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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

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THE  BALKANS 

A  LABORATORY  OF  HISTORY 


BY 

WILLIAM  M.  SLOANE 

Member  of  the  American  Academy;   Professor  of  History  in  Columbia  University 

Author  The  French  War  and  the  Revolution  ;  Napoleon  Bonaparte : 

A  History;   French  Revolution  and  Religious  Reform,  etc. 


NEW   YORK:    EATON   &    MAINS 
CINCINNATI:  JENNINGS  &  GRAHAM 


Copyright,  I9i4,by 
WILLIAM    M.   SLOANE 


ir 


Pi  Kit  d  March,  mi.i 
Reprinted  June,  [914 


CONTENTS 
Chapter  I 

TURKEY  AND   EUROPEAN  POLITICS 

What  is  broadly  designated  as  the  Balkan  peninsula.  A  racial  mu- 
seum, 3.  Fall  of  the  Byzantine  empire,  4.  Turkish  advance 
checked,  5.  Extent  of  Turkish  invasion  and  rule.  Patriciate  stripped 
of  dignity  and  power,  6.  Alternatives  offered  by  victorious  Islam,  7. 
Ottoman,  founder  of  power  and  fame  of  his  line,  8.  A  season  of 
chaos,  9.  Outburst  of  violence  and  riot,  10.  Apogee  and  decay 
of  Turkish  power.  Characteristics  of  the  Turkish  soldiery,  11. 
The  organization  of  the  Janissaries,  12.  Turkish  administration,  13. 
Balkan  States  before  1453,  14.  The  rise  and  reign  of  intrigue,  15. 
Efforts  at  unity  in  Christendom  neutralized  by  petty  jealousies,  16. 
The  Turk  in  European  politics.  All  Western  nations  compelled 
to  make  treaties  with  the  Porte,  17.     Napoleon's  seizure  of  Egypt,  18. 


Chapter  II 

TURKISH  RULE  UNDER  ABDUL  HAMID 

Misconceptions  concerning  Turkey,  23.  Comparative  value  of  travel 
studies,  24.  Some  Turkish  sketches — a.  Personal,  25;  b.  Official,  28. 
Claim  of  Abdul  Hamid  to  be  the  successor  of  Mohammed,  29.  The 
Turk  as  a  financier,  30.  A  customs  incident,  31.  The  subtle  Oriental 
mind,  32.  Misconceptions  as  to  current  terms.  The  subject  popu- 
lations of  Turkey,  33.  Definite  statement  needed.  The  struggle 
for  nationality,  34.  Agitation  produces  results  of  a  constructive 
kind,  35.  Mysteries  of  the  situation,  36.  The  Greek  rayahs,  37. 
A  general  conviction  relative  to  Greece,  38.  Modern  Greek,  39. 
Albania.  Slavic  uprising,  40.  Macedonia,  41.  Turkey  in  Mace- 
donia, 42.  Lines  of  division  in  Macedonia,  43.  The  game  of  Euro- 
pean politics,  44.  Abdul  Hamid,  45.  Aversion  of  the  Shiite  Persians, 
46.  Contradictions  noted  in  regard  to  true  Turkish  rule,  48.  Balkan 
conflagration,  49.  Primitive  conceptions  of  finance  and  adminis- 
tration in  the  Balkan  States,  51. 


Chapter  III 

THE  BALKAN  PEOPLES 

(1)  Historical  survey.  The  Thracians,  55.  The  Scythians.  The 
Illyrians,  56.  Early  immigration.  The  era  of  chieftains,  57.  Philip 
II,  58.  Coming  of  the  Romans.  Interweaving  of  Greek  and  Roman 
influence,  59.  Developments  in  Greece  after  the  battle  of  Actium. 
Political  instincts  of  the  Greeks,  60.  Rome  in  North  Europe,  61.  The 
Thracians  after   Trajan's   death,   63.     Differentiation  of   the  Goths 


iv  CONTENTS 


on  the  north  shore  of  the  Euxine.  The  Visigoth  migration,  64.  The 
Byzantine  emperor  Anastasius.  The  Avar  invasion,  65.  The  Slavs. 
The  Bulgars,  66.  Czar  Stephen  Dushan,  67.  The  Turks.  (2) 
Racial  characteristics:  Turk,  68;  Slav,  Servian,  69;  Montenegrin,  Bul- 
garian, 70;  Wallach,  73;  Albanian,  75;  Gypsy  and  Jew,  79. 

Chapter  IV 

I.  THE  BALKAN  NATIONS 

Purpose  of  chapter.  Environment  and  civilization,  83.  The  play  of 
politics,  84.  Pretext  for  overthrow  of  a  rude  and  corrupt  despotism, 
85.  Young  Turkey  at  the  helm,  86.  The  so-called  new  Turkey. 
The  call  of  the  clan,  or  racial  antagonism,  87.  Optimistic  Europe,  88. 
Nicholas  of  Montenegro.  Physical  facts  and  figures,  89.  Latest 
determinations  of  state-science,  90.  Montenegrin  aim  and  aspira- 
tion. Guerilla  warfare  of  Stephen,  91.  Intimacy  existing  between 
Danilo  Petrowich  and  Czar  Peter  the  Great,  92.  Thirty  years  of 
peace,  95.  The  Montenegrin  country  and  people,  97.  Bitter  pov- 
erty not  keenly  felt  by  people  of  Montenegro,  98.  Grecian  aims 
and  influences,  99.  Ten  successive  peoples  settling  portions  of 
Hellas,  ioo.  Greeks  in  Asia  who  are  fanatical  Moslems,  101.  Sub- 
ordination of  the  Servian  Church,  102.  The  climax  of  Phanariote 
rule,  103.  Greek  uprisings,  104.  The  blood  of  the  martyrs  the 
seed  of  the  church,  105.  Grecian  independence,  106.  Grecian 
consolidation,  108.  Prince  Alfred  the  choice  of  the  people,  109.  Social 
life  in  the  Balkans,  no.  Features  of  the  public  morals,  in.  Pros- 
perity within  the  borders  of  Greece,  112.  Influence  of  Germany 
in  Greece,  113.     Motto  of  King  George,  114. 

Chapter  V 

II.  THE  BALKAN  NATIONS 

The  Russian  idea,  117.  Disintegration  and  decay  of  Turkey  during 
the  Napoleonic  epoch,  118.  Birth  of  Rumania,  119.  Cousa  acknowl- 
edged as  Alexander  John  I,  Sovereign  Prince  of  Rumania,  120.  Nature 
proves  an  enemy  to  his  plan  of  reform,  120.  Rumanian  origins,  122. 
Rumania  in  war,  123.  Social  and  economic  organization  of  Ru- 
mania, 125.  Bulgarian  beginnings,  126.  Religious  secession,  127. 
Accession  and  reign  of  Alexander,  128.  Accession  and  reign  of 
Ferdinand,  130.  Court  and  people,  131.  Sophia,  132.  The  rise 
of  Servia,  133.  Servian  vicissitudes,  135.  Reign  of  Milosh,  136. 
Revolt  led  by  him,  137.  Militant  Michael  and  Alexander.  Second 
reigns  of  Milosh  and  Michael,  138.  The  "Great  Servia"  idea,  139. 
Milan  IV,  140.  Alexander  I,  141.  King  Peter.  General  character- 
istics of  Servia,  142.  Religion  as  yet  largely  superstition,  143.  The 
passion  for  control  a  species  of  imperial  insanity,   144. 

Chapter  VI 

THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1908  AND  ITS  CONSEQUENCES 

Turkish  apathy  and  corruption,  147.  Feebleness  and  futility  of  the 
Powers,  148.  Balkan  conditions:  (1)  Servia;  (2)  Montenegro,  149; 
(3)   Bulgaria;  (4)   Greece,   150.     Population  and  finance.     Pliyht  of 


CONTENTS 


the  Powers,  151.  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary,  152.  The  Young 
Turk  Party,  153.  Bulgaria  technically  a  vassal  state,  154.  Sparks  before 
the  fire,  155.  Crete  votes  to  unite  with  Greece,  156.  Fanning  the 
flame,  157.  Young  Turks  possessed  of  the  courage  of  their  con- 
victions, 158.  Italy  adds  fuel,  159.  What  Italy  had  feared,  160. 
The  situation  at  Constantinople,  161.  The  Balkans  ablaze,  162. 
Progress  of  the  war,  163.  The  sacrifices  of  Greece,  164.  Success 
of  the  Allies,  165.  Efforts  for  peace,  166.  Progress  of  negotiations, 
167.  Rumania's  valuation  of  herself,  168.  Proposition  submitted 
by  London  ambassadors,  169.  Second  stage  of  the  war,  170.  Indica- 
tions of  exhaustion,  171.  Partial  and  temporary  peace,  172.  Discord 
among  the  Allies,  173.  The  armistice  of  Bulair,  174.  The  question 
of  apportioning  surrendered  territories,  175.  Expenditures  of  Ger- 
many and  Russia  for  military  equipment,  176.  The  panic  on  the 
Berlin  Exchange,  177.  The  final  terms  of  settlement,  178.  The 
treaty  of  Constantinople.     The  new  Albania,  179. 


Chapter  VII 

THE  FORMATION  OF  THE  BALKAN  ALLIANCE 

The  principle  of  nationality,  183.  Futile  efforts  toward  alliance,  184. 
The  visit  of  Tricoupis  to  Belgrade,  185.  Twenty  years  of  diplomacy, 
186.  Balkan  jealousy  and  strife.  Turkey  prepares  the  way,  188.  The 
Young  Turk  movement  military  in  character,  189.  The  political  phe- 
nomenon of  19 10.  Dismay  of  the  Young  Turks,  190.  A  common  suffer- 
ing unites  the  Balkans,  192.  Arrangement  of  the  Young  Turks  with 
Rumania,  193.  Rumanian  policy,  194.  Greece  and  Bulgaria  in  concert, 
195.  Suggestions  of  full  alliance,  196.  Greco-Bulgarian  treaty,  197. 
Bulgaria-Servian  treaty,  198.  Russian  influence,  199.  Principal  in- 
dustry of  Servia,  200.  Content  of  Serbo-Bulgarian  treaty,  201.  The 
military    conventions.     Montenegro   joins,    202.     Formation    of  the 


Balkan  alliance,  204. 


Chapter    VIII 


NATIONAL  CHARACTERISTICS  IN  THE  LATEST  WAR 

Racial  strength  and  influence,  207.  The  folly  of  Pan-Slavism  illus- 
trated, 208.  Macedonian  characteristics,  210.  The  completed  parti- 
tion of  Turkey  in  Europe,  211.  The  plight  of  Albania  and 
Macedonia,  212.  Lawlessness  in  Macedonia,  214.  Conditions  in 
Bosnia  and  the  Herzegovina,  215.  Naivet6  of  the  Balkan  claim  of 
"Christian,"  216.  Atrocities  of  the  war,  217.  Facts  proclaimed  to 
the  world,  218.  Intellectual  and  moral  corruption,  219.  Facsimile 
letters  of  Greek  soldiers  published  at  Sophia,  221.  Indications  of 
the  national  temper.  The  secret  treaty  called  a  conspiracy,  224. 
A  disheartening  conclusion,  225.  Sir  Edward  Grey's  declaration 
before  Parliament,  226.  The  right  to  be  judged  justly,  227.  The 
Powers  and  the  treaty  of  peace,  228.  Questions  evaded  by  the 
statesmen  assembled  at  London.  Bulgaria's  mistake,  229.  Auton- 
omy for  Macedonia,  230.  Why  Greece  opposed  autonomy  for  all 
Macedonia,  231.  Enter  Rumania,  232.  The  duty  of  a  statesman, 
233.  Servia  and  Greece,  234.  Difficulty  of  being  just  to  Greece,  235. 
The  Greek  komitadjis,  237.     Summary,  238. 


vi  CONTENTS 

Chapter  IX 

THE  SIX  POWERS  AND  THE  BALKAN  WARS 

Attitude  and  temper  of  the  Powers,  241.  Agreements,  242.  Creating 
a  nation,  243.  The  JEgenn  Islands.  245.  Dividing  the  spoil,  or 
treaties  of  London  and  Bucharest,  246.  "Nationality"  of  the  treaty  not 
that  of  Balkan  peoples,  248.  The  term  "nationality"  in  the  Balkan 
States.  249.  Remarkable  confusions  in  the  Balkans,  250.  The 
author's  experiences  as  a  traveler.  252.  Public  opinion  as  to  the 
Balkan  situation.  Russia,  253.  Austria-Hungary,  254.  Servia.  256. 
Italy,  Germany,  258.  France,  259.  Great  Britain,  260.  As  to 
Mohammedan  powers  in  general,  261.  Will  wild  Europe  hear  and 
heed?  262.  Looking  into  the  future,  263.  Islam  in  the  Balkans, 
264.  Islam  in  Asia,  267.  The  spirit  of  absolute  equality  permeating 
Mohammedism,  269. 

Chapter  X 

HOPES   AND  FEARS 

The  peace  propaganda,  273.  Encouraging  facts.  Common  origins 
in  the  Balkans,  274.  Elements  of  disunion,  275.  Cause  of  quarrels 
in  the  Balkan  States.  276.  Possible  advance  in  nationality.  277. 
An  armed  peace,  278.  Delicate  relations  of  the  Powers,  279.  Efforts 
to  promote  a  better  and  milder  state  of  feeling  between  Great  Britain 
and  Germany,  280.  Sources  of  disturbance  revealed,  281.  An 
act  of  tremendous  significance,  282.  "United  States  of  Europe," 
284.  Some  tentative  conclusions,  285.  The  burdens  to  be  borne 
by  Servia,  287.  The  task  of  Bulgaria  severe.  288.  A  period  of 
recuperation  required  by  Greece,  290.  The  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter,  292. 

Appendix 293 

Index 3*3 

Maps 

The  Balkan  States,  showing  boundaries  existing  before  the 
war Facing  page       3 

The  Balkan  States,  showing  boundaries  agreed  upon  by  Bulgaria 
and  Servia  in  secret  treaty Facing  page   198 

The  Balkan  States,  showing  boundaries  finally  adopted .  Facing  page  247 


PREFACE 

Between  the  years  1903  and  1910  the  author  made 
three  fairly  extended  journeys  in  lands  which  had  once 
been  a  part  of  the  Turkish  empire.  What  he  was 
able  as  a  mere  tourist  to  observe  appeared  to  have 
value  as  a  specimen  of  history  in  the  making.  In 
the  matter  of  civilization  it  was  the  past  in  the  pres- 
ent, a  social  and  semipolitical  system  projected  three 
centuries  forward.  Wildest  Europe  was  more  pic- 
turesque and  instructive  than  our  own  Mid  West 
because  the  frontier  of  its  barbarism  and  civilization 
is  not  only  densely  populated  but  also,  more  than  that, 
by  Caucasians.  Neither  the  yellow,  red,  nor  black 
man  is  anywhere  a  problem. 

Somewhat  impulsively  these  observations  of  a 
traveler  were  set  down,  as  opportunity  served,  and 
later  they  were  published  at  intervals  in  the  Political 
Science  Quarterly.  Two  years  since,  the  present  pub- 
lishers requested  permission  to  collect  and  publish  these 
articles  in  a  small  book.  The  editors  of  the  review 
and  the  author  willingly  assented.  The  Balkan  War, 
however,  intervened ;  the  articles  were  no  longer  up  to 
date,  new  knowledge  was  brought  to  light;  and  not 
only  the  weightiest  facts  but  even  minor  happenings 
acquired  unsuspected  significance.  To  both  publisher 
and  author  it  seemed  best  to  postpone  publication  for 
a  time  and  abide  the  result  of  the  military  and  diplo- 
matic events  which  were  occurring  in  swift  succession. 
Of  the  original  articles  little  remains,  for  the  text  has 
been  substantially  rewritten.     The  plan  imposed  by 

vii 


Vlll 


PREFACE 


the  original  design  requires,  however,  certain  repeti- 
tions which  the  reader  is  asked  to  excuse  for  the  sake 
of  clearness. 

It  is  therefore  without  apology,  but  with  a  full  sense 
of  their  imperfection  and  incompleteness,  that  the 
author  lavs  the  results  of  his  observation  and  investi- 
gation before  the  public.  However  the  ultimate  de- 
cision may  turn  in  the  Balkans,  this  book  contains 
most,  if  not  all,  that  will  be  generally  known  for  some 
time.  It  strives,  moreover,  to  state  the  political,  social, 
and  religious  problems  of  the  hour  as  the  Balkan  States 
must  face  them. 

In  prophecy  it  does  not  indulge  because  the  experi- 
ments making  in  the  historical  laboratory  are  abso- 
lutely without  previous  indication  or  trial,  and  the 
elements  entering  in  are  difficult  beyond  measure  to 
test  and  define.  Should,  however,  the  outcome  be  a 
second  federation  of  the  young  Balkan  States,  includ- 
ing all  six,  even  a  temporary  federation  of  some  sta- 
bility, a  new  epoch  of  European  history  will  have 
begun.  The  fate  of  Constantinople  and  the  Straits 
will  be  in  its  hands.  There  will  be  forced  upon  west- 
ern Europe  some  kind  of  closer  union  for  protection 
against  a  hostile  invasion  of  inferior  civilization  com- 
posed of  Slavic  stock,  Greek  Catholicism,  and  Oriental 
government.  Incidentally,  Islam  and  its  system  will 
disappear  entirely  from  Europe,  and  the  Mohammedan 
peoples  in  Asia  and  Africa  become  the  subjects  of  a 
bipartite  Christendom.  Pan-Slavism  will  be  relegated 
indefinitely  to  the  limbo  of  other  phantasms  evoked 
for  dynastic  purposes.  W.  M.  S. 

Princeton,  March  15,  1914. 


I 

TURKEY  AND  EUROPEAN  POLITICS 


20  I.m.'-itu.l.-  H  I        ' 


•jr,         Qreenwich         28 


TURKEY  AND  EUROPEAN  POLITICS 

The  whole  of  southeastern  Europe,  the  lands  in  A  Racial 
which  dwell  Hungarians,  Croatians,  Dalmatians,  Museum 
Servians,  Rumanians,  Bulgarians,  Montenegrins, 
Greeks,  and  European  Turks,  has  at  one  time  or  an- 
other, for  longer  or  shorter  periods,  been  under  the 
sway  of  the  Ottoman  Turks,  and  has  therefore  for 
those  periods  been  styled,  politically,  Turkey  in 
Europe.  Geographically  considered,  the  territories  of 
these  peoples  are  comprised  in  the  Balkans  or  the  Bal- 
kan peninsula,  a  broad  and  comprehensive  designation, 
which,  though  loose,  is  historically  very  useful.  As 
time  is  measured  in  history  these  great  domains  were 
very  recently  under  an  Asiatic  despotism  and  display 
throughout  their  extent  certain  surviving  characteris- 
tics of  its  disastrous  sway.  While  the  boundaries  of 
Turkey  in  Europe  have  steadily  been  receding  to  the 
eastward  until  now  they  are  under  the  very  walls  of 
Adrianople,  yet  in  the  new  states  which  have  been 
established  in  the  Balkans  there  remain  a  few  Asiatic 
Turks  and  many  European  converts  to  Islam  who  are 
Turkish  in  sympathy  and  religious  allegiance. 

The  southeastern  portion  of  Europe  is  thus  an 
ethnological  museum,  and  what  with  the  neighboring 
ethnic  stocks  of  Asia  Minor  a  trained  observer  was 
able  very  recently  within  a  few  brief  hours  to  dis- 
tinguish among  those  who  crossed  the  Galata  bridge 

3 


4  THE  BALKANS 

in  Constantinople  representatives  of  thirty-eight  dif- 
ferent so-called  nationalities.  This  word  means  per- 
sons belonging  to  loose  unions  of  blood-related  clans 
and  tribes,  which  differ  from  each  other  in  origin,  in- 
stitutions, habits,  garb,  and  to  a  considerable  extent 
in  both  religion  and  language.  All  these  are  found  in 
greater  or  less  proportion  amid  the  inhabitants  of  Con- 
stantinople and  its  suburbs.  Such  variations  mean,  of 
course,  successive  strata  of  population  and  settlement 
due  to  conquest,  or  immigration,  or  merchandising,  or 
missionary  enterprise,  or  even  mere  temporary  resi- 
dence for  some  reason  or  another.  But  the  Balkan 
States  as  a  whole  are  inhabited  by  the  South  Slavs 
with  an  intermixture  of  Magyars,  Bulgarians,  Wal- 
lachs,  Albanians,  and  Greeks.  An  account  of  their 
origin  and  distribution  will  be  given  in  a  following 
chapter. 
Fall  of  Opinions  differ  widely  about  every  detail  of  the  de- 

Byzantine         ciine  anci  fall  0f  the  East  Roman,  or  Byzantine,  empire. 
Empire  ^ye  are  not  at  ajj  certajni  except  in  a  very  general  way, 

as  to  the  races,  at  least  in  their  proportionate  distribu- 
tion, which  inhabited  its  European  territories,  and 
while  we  justly  characterize  its  administration  as  a 
pure  despotism,  we  know  with  accuracy  nothing  about 
its  workings  except  that,  in  general,  the  details  corre- 
spond to  those  of  Roman  administration  under  Diocle- 
tian and  Constantine  the  Great.  But  we  do  know  that 
there  was  a  continuous  change,  a  devolution  which 
weakened  every  activity  of  the  state,  deprived  it  of 
all  offensive  strength,  and  rendered  its  powers  of  re- 
sistance inefficient.  Its  disintegration  began  as  early 
as  the  eleventh  century,  when  the  Seljuke  Turks,  a 
Mongolian  horde  from  Central  Asia,  gained  a  foothold 
in  Asia  Minor,  established  themselves  at  Iconium  as 


TURKEY  AND  EUROPEAN  POLITICS      5 

their  capital,  and  began  the  forcible  conversion  of  the 
surrounding  populations  to  Mohammedanism.  It  was 
1 46 1,  four  centuries  later,  when  David,  the  last  so- 
called  "Roman"  ruler,  yielded  Trapezunt  to  the  Osman 
Turks.  Thereafter  there  was  not  a  trace  of  "Roman," 
then  synonymous  with  Greek,  power  in  Asia ;  the  name 
alone  survived  in  that  of  the  Greek-speaking  popula- 
tion, the  Romaike,  a  people  already  commingled  in 
blood  with  the  numerous  Christian  Slavs  who  had  set- 
tled among  them,  and  destined  to  become  more  and 
more  a  mixed  race,  preserving,  however,  as  a  bond  of 
union,  the  cult  of  the  Greek  Church  and  the  use  of 
the  Greek  language. 

Under  Justinian  (527-565)  the  Roman  power  ex-  Turkish 
tended  from  Persia  to  Portugal  on  all  shores  of  the  Advance 
Mediterranean  except  where  the  Franks  commanded  ec  e 
the  mouth  of  the  Rhone;  by  the  year  1000,  though 
retaining  Italy  south  of  Naples,  it  was  limited  on  the 
west  by  the  Adriatic,  and  on  the  north  by  the  Danube 
and  the  Euxine.  Thereafter  Turkish  invaders  in  Asia 
from  the  eastward  and  the  Latins  (Venetians,  Lom- 
bards, Dutch,  and  French)  from  the  westward  ren- 
dered its  strength  less  and  less  considerable,  its 
existence  more  and  more  precarious.  It  is  therefore 
questionable  whether  the  Turkish  advance  was  an  oc- 
cupation or  a  conquest.  One  thing  is  sure,  that  when 
they  met  their  first  really  vigorous  and  well-organized 
Western  foe  under  John  Sobieski,  less  than  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  ago,  their  advance  was  checked ; 
the  tide  of  their  victories  at  once  began  to  ebb.  Hun- 
gary cast  off  their  yoke  with  little  difficulty,  in  spite  of 
almost  internecine  civil  wars,  in  1699;  Servia  followed 
the  example  a  century  later;  Greece  and  Montenegro 
within  the  memory  of  our  fathers,  and  in  our  own  day 


and  Rule 


6  THE  BALKANS 

Rumania    and    Bulgaria   have  secured    real   indepen- 
dence; to  Albania  has  been  promised  a  high  degree  of 
autonomy. 
Extent  of  Yet  such  a  bald  summary  would  leave  a  false  im- 

Turkish  pression  of  Turkish  history  and  requires  some  illumi- 

Invasion  nation.    The  East  Roman  emperor  regarded  himself  as 

in  the  line  of  succession  from  all  the  Roman  emperors, 
but  he  spoke  Greek  and  was  a  fanatical  Christian  of 
the  Greek  rite.  He  asserted  the  supremacy  of  state 
over  church,  but  was  crowned  and  anointed  by  the 
Greek  patriarch,  was  set  apart  as  an  Oriental  despot, 
was  shut  in  by  a  pompous  ceremonial  and  etiquette, 
and  was  exhibited  as  a  demigod  in  gorgeous  attire. 
He  was  at  all  times  protected  by  a  mercenary  body- 
guard and  surrounded  by  sycophants  and  ingenious 
flatterers,  who  exercised  such  political  and  military 
power  as  by  his  will  survived,  to  their  own  advantage 
and  that  of  influential  court  favorites.  All  vestiges 
of  West  Roman  institutions,  such  as  the  Consulate  and 
Senate,  were  early  swept  away ;  even  the  patriciate  was 
stripped  of  dignity  and  power,  and  the  cities  were  de- 
prived of  all  their  liberties.  The  number  of  office- 
holders was  proportionately  enormous  at  the  outset 
and  steadily  increased  to  the  end.  Through  these, 
every  single  one  of  whom  was  directly  dependent  on 
the  emperor,  as  he  believed — on  some  courtier  as  a 
matter  of  fact — a  feeble,  ineffectual,  and  finally  op- 
pressive administration  was  carried  on.  The  members 
of  this  service  were  divided  into  several  ranks  and 
dignities,  each  with  separate  privileges,  income,  style, 
garb,  and  title.  Every  province  had  a  governor,  or 
statholder,  with  whom  an  assessor,  or  legal  official, 
was  associated  in  the  management  of  the  courts.  The 
taxes   were    farmed,   these   two  chief   officials   being 


TURKEY  AND  EUROPEAN  POLITICS      7 

bound  to  the  regular  payment  of  enormous  sums  to 
the  emperor,  whose  treasury  was  alike,  with  no  pre- 
tence of  distinction,  imperial,  fiscal,  and  personal. 
Besides,  there  were  local  taxes  of  grinding  severity, 
levied  without  pity.  What  with  perpetual  rebellions 
and  foreign  wars,  what  with  the  terrific  expense  of 
maintaining  mercenary  fleets  and  armies,  what  with 
the  lavish  provision  of  games  and  feasts  to  propitiate 
the  populace  of  the  capital  city  or  cities,  there  was  no 
chance  for  Justinian's  great  law  system  to  protect 
anybody  or  anything.  There  was  some  patriotism, 
much  personal  courage;  there  were  instances  of  unself- 
ish devotion,  and  at  intervals  were  found  many  men 
of  high  personal  character  to  give  a  certain  relief  to 
the  dull,  sorry  level  of  social,  political,  and  economic 
debauchery.  But  between  the  ruler  and  the  ruled  there 
was  an  awful  gulf  which  neither  cared  to  bridge,  such 
was  the  sodden  inertia  of  the  system. 

The  incoming  Turks  were  devout  Moslems.  Victo- 
rious, Islam  from  the  outset  offered  three  alternatives 
to  its  conquered  foes :  believe,  pay  tribute,  or  die.  As 
the  conquerors  rolled  in  resistless  flood  ever  farther 
and  farther  toward  the  west,  they  killed  many ;  many 
more,  the  great  majority  of  the  working  classes,  pre- 
served their  Christian  faith,  found  life  sweet,  and  paid. 
Their  tribute  was  no  larger,  their  treatment  no  more 
merciless  than  before.  A  certain  considerable  propor- 
tion of  the  great  proprietors  and  upper  classes,  hith- 
erto of  the  Greek  confession  but  without  much  re- 
ligion except  a  ritual,  accepted  the  faith  of  the  con- 
querors and  identified  themselves  with  the  new  tyranny 
as  they  had  with  the  old.  The  Turks  who  entered 
Europe  were  never  very  numerous  relatively;  they 
were  courageous  explorers  and  fighters,  and  after  con- 


8  THE  BALKANS 

quest  they  substituted  themselves  for  the  Byzantine 
administrators  and  perpetuated  the  same  oppressive 
system.  Only  now,  the  ruler  had  a  faith  which  re- 
garded the  professing  Christian  as  a  dog,  a  hog,  a 
chattel  of  the  vilest  type.  The  immense  Christian 
population  beneath  him  were  thenceforth  for  centu- 
ries designated  as  the  herd,  the  rayahs.  Their  treat- 
ment by  the  Turkish  rulers  was  ever  more  leveling, 
ever  more  brutalizing;  and  the  fiber  of  their  Christian 
character,  never  morally  very  tough,  was  steadily  re- 
laxed until  the  weapons  of  the  weak,  deceit  and  false- 
hood, practiced  almost  without  interruption,  genera- 
tion after  generation,  left  no  place  in  the  spiritual 
arsenal  for  manly  or  Christian  virtues,  except  those  of 
a  certain  dogged  industry  and  traditional  fidelity, 
largely  exercised  under  the  compulsion  of  self- 
preservation. 

The  earliest,  or  Seljuke,  Turks  had  confined  their 
warlike  activities  to  Asia  and  were  content  to  consol- 
idate their  power  in  four  different  centers  under  as 
many  lines  or  families  of  leaders.  They  were  at  the 
climax  of  their  power  about  the  end  of  the  eleventh 
century,  controlling  virtually  all  of  Asia  Minor  and 
those  parts  of  Persia  where  they  first  appear  in  his- 
torical tradition.  There  seem  to  have  been  at  least 
three  migrations  of  them  from  their  original  seats. 
Still  another  Turkish  stock,  small  in  number  but  fierce 
and  capable,  came  into  prominence  during  the  follow- 
ing century,  the  Oghusians.  These  steadily  encroached 
on  the  rule  of  the  Seljukes,  and  finally  a  certain  Erto- 
grul,  son  of  Soleiman  Khan,  planted  himself  and  his 
people  firmly  in  northern  Phfygia.  It  was  his  son 
Osman,  Othman,  or  Ottoman,  who  founded  the  power 
and  the  fame  of  his  line;  and  the  son  of  Othman, 


TURKEY  AND  EUROPEAN  POLITICS     g 

Orchan,    reduced   Bithynia   and   Moesia  to  complete 
subjection.      Establishing  himself  at   Broussa  as   his 
capital,  he  crossed  the  Hellespont,  captured  Gallipolis 
on  the  European  shore  and  made  ready  to  attack  the 
East    Romans    at    the    heart    of    their    government. 
Murad  I,  his  successor,  with  an  army  which  he  organ- 
ized on  a  sound  and  permanent  basis,  extended  the 
Ottoman  dominions  to  both  Caramania  in  the  east 
and  Thracia  in  the  west.    He  perished  in  1389  on  the 
hard-fought  field  of  battle  (Kossowo  Polje  or  Amsel- 
feld),  where  the  Servians  were  utterly  routed.    So  far, 
the  Turkish  expansion  was,  in  appearance  at  least,  a 
real  conquest,  a  series  of  victories  over  stubborn  foes. 
These  foes,  however,  were  neither  united  nor  organ- 
ized, as  were  the  invaders.     Seven  years  later  Bajazet 
I,  son  of  Murad,  having  overrun  both  Greece  and  Wal- 
lachia,  was  summoned  to  meet  a  coalition  of  the  Chris- 
tian powers  under  Sigismund  of  Hungary  at  Nikopo- 
lis.    There  was  a  desperate  battle,  and  the  Turks  were 
victorious,  but  to  no  avail ;  Tamerlane  swept  in  with 
his  Mongols,  defeated  Bajazet  at  Angora  in  1402  and 
drove  him  into  an  exile,  whence  he  never  returned. 
There  were  then  eleven  successive  years  of  chaos  be- 
fore one  of  his  four  sons,  Mahomet,  succeeded  in  re- 
constructing Turkish  power.    Having  done  so,  he  kept 
the  peace  for  eight  years  of  recuperation.     Murad  II 
inaugurated  another  career  of  conquest  and  expansion: 
Thessalonica,  Corinth,  Patras,  and  part  of  Albania  fell 
into  his  hands.     But  in  the  latter  country  he  could  not 
overcome  the  resistance  of  Scander  Beg,  fought  inde- 
cisive battles  with  him,  and  was  utterly  defeated  by 
Hunyadi,  Prince  of  Transylvania,  at  Nissa  in  1443. 
He  conquered  at  Varna  in  1444,  and  again  at  Kossowa 
in  1448,  however,  leaving  a  substantial,  united  force, 


io  THE  BALKANS 

political  and  military  to  his  son,  the  great  Mahomet 
II,  styled  the  Conqueror.  He  it  was  who  crushed  the 
East  Roman  empire,  captured  Constantinople  in  1453 
and  made  it  the  Turkish  metropolis,  thus  establishing 
Turkey  as  a  European  power  and  opening  a  new  epoch 
in  European  history.  Six  years  later  he  turned  Servia 
into  a  Turkish  province  (1459),  and  in  further  cam- 
paigns reduced  to  Turkish  possession  the  island  of 
Lesbos  (1462),  the  most  of  Bosnia  (1463),  all  of  the 
Peloponnesus  (1479)  and  Trapezunt  (1461).  Five 
years  later  he  subdued  the  stubborn  Caramanians 
(1466)  and  after  another  breathing  space  reduced  the 
Tatars  of  Crimea  to  subjection  (1475).  Still  another 
five  years  later  he  landed  an  army  in  Italy,  captured 
Otranto,  and  died  in  1481. 

His  dynasty  and  his  people  were  sated  for  a  time 
with  conquest.  Bajazet  II  reigned  in  outward  peace 
for  a  generation,  although  the  palace  cabals,  the  jeal- 
ousies of  princes,  and  the  rivalry  of  factions  exhibited 
the  inherent  weakness  of  every  Oriental  despotism, 
whether  Moslem  or  Christian.  It  was  an  outburst  of 
violence  and  riot  in  the  palace  precincts  which  put  his 
son  Selim  I  on  the  throne.  The  scenes  enacted  were 
almost  identical  with  those  familiar  in  Byzantine  an- 
nals, or  in  Saint  Petersburg  when  Paul  was  murdered 
and  Alexander  I  ascended  the  throne  little  more  than 
a  hundred  years  ago.  The  sequel,  too,  was  parallel ;  the 
public  attention  was  drawn  from  home  disgrace  to 
foreign  conquest.  It  was  Selim  who  hurled  the  Per- 
sians across  the  Tigris,  abased  the  proud  Mamelukes 
in  the  conquest  of  Syria  and  Egypt,  and  transmitted 
to  his  successors  the  title  and  spiritual  supremacy  of 
the  Caliphate.  Soleiman  II  ascended  the  throne  in 
15 19,  two  years  later  reduced  the  Hungarian  frontier 


TURKEY  AND  EUROPEAN  POLITICS    n 

fortress  of  Belgrade,  annihilated  the  Hungarian  army 
at  Mohacs,  and  after  another  eastern  campaign  estab- 
lished his  power  at  Ofen,  the  Hungarian  capital,  in 
1529,  declaring  the  kingdom  of  Hungary  to  be  a  vas- 
sal state.  Here  his  fortunes  began  to  wane.  Dream- 
ing of  an  advance  into  Germany,  he  besieged  Vienna, 
but  was  driven  off.  In  1533  he  concluded  a  peace 
which  restored  most  of  Hungary  to  semi-independence 
on  condition  of  her  paying  a  moderate  tribute.  But 
King  Ferdinand  of  Austria  revolted  at  the  price  and 
in  1 54 1  war  was  renewed,  the  Turk  was  victorious  and 
Hungary  became  a  Turkish  province.  Meantime 
Soleiman  had  wrested  from  the  Knights  of  Saint  John 
the  island  of  Rhodes;  from  Persia  Tabris,  Van,  and 
Mosool,  together  with  the  feudal  suzerainty  of  Georgia. 
His  fleets  conquered  and  reduced  to  terrified  sub- 
jection all  the  Barbary  States  and  many  of  the  Vene- 
tian possessions  in  the  ^Lgean.  The  Turkish  corsairs 
were  feared  in  Spain  and  were  not  unknown  on  the 
African  shores  of  the  Atlantic ;  they  even  penetrated  to 
the  Indian  Ocean.  Soleiman  died  in  1566  on  an  expe- 
dition against  a  rebellious  Hungarian  city  and  left  the 
Turkish  power  at  its  apogee,  to  begin  its  decay  under 
the  reign  of  a  weakling  successor,  his  son  Selim  II, 
and  a  century  thereafter  to  accelerate  the  almost  un- 
broken process  of  its  fall. 

No  one  has  ever  questioned  the  physical  courage  of   Characteris- 
tic Turkish  soldiery.     Since  their  first  appearance  in  tics  of  the 
history  the  Turkish   forces,   men   and  officers  up  to  Turldsh 
the  highest  rank,  have  been  brave  and  resourceful  on     °   iery 
the  battlefield ;  in  tactics  and  strategy  the  case  is  far 
different.     But  to  a  very  high  degree,  the  success  of 
Turkish  arms  in  action  was  from  the  outset  due  to  the 
famous  corps  of  the  Janissaries,  a  body  of  soldiery 


12  THE  BALKANS 

upon  whose  system  of  recruiting  and  organization  that 
amazing  military  engine,  Napoleon's  Guard,  appears 
to  have  been  in  a  measure  founded.  The  Janissaries 
were  a  corps  of  men  separated  in  childhood  from  their 
relatives,  trained  to  habits  of  discipline  and  unques- 
tioning obedience,  inured  to  hardship,  pampered  only 
in  their  vanity  and  pride  of  place.  They  had  no  family 
ties  and  no  attachments  of  any  sort  except  to  each 
other;  their  commanding  officers  were  humored  with 
gratifications  of  money  and  rich  uniforms;  to  all 
ranks  was  permitted  every  license  which  did  not 
weaken  their  bodies  or  render  effeminate  their  minds. 
Almost  exclusively  they  were  the  sons  of  Christian 
captives;  in  other  words,  they  were  not  Turks  at  all, 
but  Greeks  or  Greek  Slavs.  The  corps  was  at  times, 
of  course,  a  menace  to  constituted  authority,  being  con- 
scious of  its  strength  and  importance,  but  generally 
throughout  its  history  it  proved  a  trustworthy  prop 
to  the  authority  of  the  despot  from  whose  hand  it  was 
fed.  Through  various  vicissitudes  it  lasted  to  1826. 
In  a  broad  generalization  it  may  be  said  that  the  Turks 
owed  their  success  as  conquerors  to  the  offspring  of 
those  who  were  conquered.  The  idea  of  such  a  corps 
was  not,  however,  original ;  the  Varangian  guard  of 
the  Byzantine  emperors,  though  widely  different  in 
constitution  and  organization,  was  nevertheless  a  body 
of  struck  and  selected  men,  proud  in  its  efficiency, 
devoted  to  its  officers ;  and  being  stationed  so  far  from 
the  Western  lands  whence  it  was  recruited,  it  knew  no 
allegiance  except  to  its  commanders  and  their  chief, 
the  emperor.  What  was  original  in  the  organization 
of  the  Janissaries  was  the  source  of  supply  and  the 
uses  to  which  it  was  put  as  a  model  and  stimulus  to  the 
whole  army. 


TURKEY  AND  EUROPEAN  POLITICS     13 

The  administration  of  the  Ottoman  empire,  more-  Turkish 
over,  was  in  the  main  intrusted  to  men  who  were  Administra- 
neither  Turks  nor  even  Moslems.  The  aristocratic  tlon 
quarter  of  Constantinople  was  Phanar,  where  dwelt 
the  wealthy,  refined,  and  adroit  Greeks  of  the  capital. 
From  among  these  shrewd  and  wily  Phanariotes  the 
Sultans  selected  their  viceroys  and  administrators  for 
most  of  the  difficult  posts.  As  conquerors  (and  at  the 
outset)  the  Turks  knew  only  nations  as  the  units  of 
administration;  these  nations  were  encouraged  to  keep 
their  own  organization,  because  it  was  much  easier  for 
the  busy  invaders  to  deal  with  a  few  leaders  than  with 
the  vast  horde  of  natives.  To  each  Patriarch,  Vicar, 
or  Grand  Rabbi  and  his  advisers,  suitable  place  and 
station  were  assigned  in  the  capital,  and  the  source  of 
authority  was  thus  easily  accessible.  Beneath  the  far- 
reaching  results  of  the  sparse  Turkish  immigration 
still  lay  fallow  the  fact  and  the  idea  of  Byzantium : 
there  was  the  Greek  Church  in  all  the  ramifications  of 
its  ecclesiastical  order;  and  to  the  Moslem,  religion, 
aside  from  material  interest,  was  the  strongest  conceiv- 
able bond  of  nationality,  as,  indeed,  was  then  and  still 
remains  the  case  with  the  devout  Greek  Catholic.  This 
administrative  system  was  a  crude  novelty,  invented 
and  operated  because  the  court  religion  was  not  that 
of  the  masses,  and,  further,  because  there  were  secta- 
rian divisions  among  these :  three  of  the  Greek  Ortho- 
dox Church,  two  of  the  Armenian  Gregorian  Church, 
one  each  of  the  Roman  Catholics  and  Jews.  When, 
later,  there  came  into  being  Reformed  Congrega- 
tions— American,  German,  English,  and  Greek — these 
were  nominally  regulated  according  to  the  same  sys- 
tem. In  one  sense  Turkish  Islam  has  been  tolerant 
in  the  widest  extent — from  necessity.     Without  some 


14  THE  BALKANS 

degree  of  contentment  among  its  Christian  subjects 
there  would  have  been  no  revenues.  But  along  with 
religious  tolerance  there  was  and  is  among  orthodox 
Mohammedans  a  social  intolerance  of  the  most  of- 
fensive sort.  The  contempt  of  the  Moslem  for  the 
Christian  is  inexpressible.  Occidental  influences,  how- 
ever, began  early  to  modify  Mohammedanism,  a  re- 
ligion which  itself  originated  with  the  intestine  schism 
of  Shiites  and  Sunnites;  such  sectarian  tendencies 
were  speedily  developed  wherever  it  was  established. 
The  Eastern  Roman  empire  had  intimate  friendly  rela- 
tions with  the  Western  Caliphate,  and  vice  versa;  but 
with  the  fall  of  Constantinople  an  enormous  inter- 
action with  Occidental  Christendom  was  inaugurated 
on  the  political  and  social  side.  For  this  the  Phana- 
riotes  furnished  not  merely  men  and  measures  and 
channels  of  communication  but  also  favoring 
influences. 
Balkan  States  The  story  of  the  Balkan  States  of  to-day  antecedent 
Before  1453  to  1453  is  not  in  the  scientific  sense  really  historical. 
Their  institutions,  laws,  organization,  leaders,  all  have 
human  interest,  but  they  did  not  affect  in  any  way  the 
great  central  current  of  that  history  which  explains 
the  conditions  of  to-day — except  in  one  regard :  as 
the  memory  of  Byzantium  first  stirred  the  modern 
Greeks  to  a  revival  of  patriotism,  so  that  of  Czar 
Simeon's  Bulgarian  empire  in  the  ninth  century  was 
a  spur  to  the  Bulgarians  in  the  nineteenth ;  and  that  of 
Stephen  Dushan's  Servian  empire  in  the  fourteenth 
is  the  pride  of  the  new  Servia.  These  vague,  far-dis- 
tant historic  traditions  of  the  Balkans  echo  down 
through  the  centuries,  profoundly  stir  patriotic  emo- 
tions, arouse  national  aspirations  and  are  incentives  to 
action.     So  far,  the  story  of  the  Balkans  before  the 


TURKEY  AND  EUROPEAN  POLITICS    15 

fifteenth  century  may  be  called  historic,  but  that  term 
can  be  correctly  employed  only  from  the  date  when 
the  Ottoman  empire  became  a  European  power. 

There  is  no  sense  of  the  word  in  which  the  sue-  The  Rise 
cessive  renascence  periods  of  Western  Europe  can  be  and  Reign 
called  political.  Feudalism  was  a  social  and  economic  fragile 
system,  the  city  commonwealths  were  mercantile  con- 
cerns ;  the  so-called  kingdoms  were  unrelated  aggrega- 
tions of  town  and  country  units  with  no  organic 
connection;  Christianity  in  the  fifteenth  century  had 
relapsed  into  paganism,  and  paganism  of  a  rather 
degraded  sort  at  that.  The  fall  of  Constantinople,  the 
steady  conquering  advance  of  Islam  against  Christen- 
dom, the  catastrophe  of  Rome,  profoundly  affected 
Western  Europe  and  recalled  the  days  of  Charles  Mar- 
tel.  There  was  burning  indignation,  and  fierce  debate 
and  bitter  lamentation.  But  there  was  no  manly  resolve 
followed  by  virile  armament  and  resolute  resistance. 
On  the  contrary,  the  Ottoman  successes  dazzled  and 
hypnotized  the  Christian  powers.  Craft  and  guile 
were  the  weapons  of  the  cringing  weak.  The  Sublime 
Porte — such  was  the  climax  of  swollen  Oriental 
phraseology — became  the  resort  and  the  jousting  ring 
of  diplomacy:  the  kings  of  Europe,  its  Popes  and 
doges  and  emperors,  were  there  represented  by  their 
most  adroit  and  habile  ministers.  The  fortunes  of  the 
Western  world  hung  on  the  palace  plots,  and  the  suc- 
cesses of  reigning  favorites  in  securing  the  nod  or  wink 
of  favor  from  some  Moslem  Padishah — lord  of 
lords — with  the  sobriquet  of  Splendid,  or  Magnifi- 
cent, or  Conqueror.    Our  word  "Sultan"  is  not  theirs. 

The  establishment  of  Venetian,  French,  and  Span- 
ish power  in  parts  of  the  Byzantine  empire  had,  of 
course,  already  drawn  the  Balkan  peninsula  somewhat 


16  THE  BALKANS 

into  the  sphere  of  Western  politics  when  Constantino- 
ple fell  into  Turkish  hands.  The  further  advance  of 
the  conquerors  accentuated  Europeans  rivalries ;  Ven- 
ice, Spain,  and  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  and  the  Pope 
entered  into  the  Holy  League  of  1495  to  check  and 
turn  back  the  oncoming  Moslem  tide.  In  vain;  Venice 
was  a  despotic  oligarchy  and  had  no  strong  and  settled 
policy.  Losing  Rhodes  and  the  Peloponnesus,  it 
cringed  to  the  Sultan.  Maximilian  I,  distracted  by 
troubles  internal  and  external,  laid  before  the  allies  at 
Cambrai  in  1 5 1 7  a  plan  for  the  partition  of  Turkey, 
but  the  empire  could  raise  neither  soldiers  nor  funds 
to  pay  them,  and  the  Hungarian  nobles  made  terms 
with  the  Sultan,  while  both  Austria  and  Bavaria  lay 
wide  open  and  unprotected  against  foreign  invasion. 
Francis  I,  "the  most  Christian  King"  of  France,  with 
the  support  of  all  who  feared  the  empire,  concluded 
the  treaty  of  1535  with  the  Porte  which  made  his  na- 
tion the  "most  favored,"  and  Venice  paid  contributions 
for  the  further  strengthening  of  the  Sultan's  forces. 
Poland,  under  Sigismund  II,  and  Russia,  rising  into 
a  congruous  and  powerful  nationality  under  Ivan  the 
Terrible,  were  the  only  doughty  foes  of  the  Turks,  who 
now  had  not  only  France  but  England  as  allies ;  both 
were  irreconcilable  enemies  of  the  Hapsburgs  in  Spain 
and  Austria.  Such  petty  jealousies  neutralized  every 
effort  at  unity  in  Christendom,  and  the  Popes,  weak- 
ened in  their  spiritual  supremacy  by  their  unimportant 
secular  power  and  their  moral  laxity  as  Italian  prince- 
lets,  were  helpless  to  arouse  Europe  for  organized 
action.  Both  Gregory  X  and  Sixtus  V  exerted  unsuc- 
cessful efforts ;  already  the  Reformation  movement 
was  in  full  swing  and  ecclesiasticism  was  daily  more 
powerless. 


TURKEY  AND  EUROPEAN  POLITICS    17 

Thereafter  the  Ottoman  empire,  whether  vigorous  The  Turk  in 
or  feeble,  was  an  integral  part  of  the  European  state-  European 
system,  an  element  to  be  reckoned  with  in  maintaining  Pohtlcs 
the  balance  of  power;  especially  after  the  treaty  of 
Westphalia,  which  recognized  the  secular  as  predom- 
inant  over   the   ecclesiastical    forces   in  its   unstable 
equilibrium. 

In  its  largest  sense — spiritual,  political,  and  econom- 
ical— the  world  movement  has  in  historic  times  been 
dependent  upon  the  reciprocity  of  Orient  and  Occident 
in  their  exchange  of  relations.  With  the  Porte  all 
western  nations,  France  at  their  head,  were  compelled 
to  make  treaties  regulating  religious  and  commercial 
affairs.  From  successive  Sultans  were  secured,  not  of 
right  but  of  grace,  the  concessions  under  which  Latin 
Christianity  could  maintain  its  establishments  within 
their  realms,  the  so-called  Capitulations.  The  diplo- 
matic privileges  of  extra-territoriality  and  consular 
courts  to  protect  resident  Europeans  of  the  west  from 
the  injurious  administration  of  the  Moslem  law  were 
likewise  granted  by  the  Padishah  as  favors.  The 
Turkish  successes  of  1737-39  made  diplomacy  an  inter- 
esting game,  for  Russia  had  now  become  for  Turkey  a 
waiting,  watchful  foe;  the  situation  was  parallel  to 
that  of  Greece  with  Persia,  Rome  with  Carthage  and 
Parthia,  medieval  Christendom  with  Arabic  Islam. 
Russia's  aims  have  throughout  been  clear  enough :  she 
desires  the  key  to  her  own  door;  claiming  as  the  em- 
bodiment of  Greek  Christianity  to  be  the  successor  of 
Byzantium,  she  wants  Constantinople ;  the  admitted 
incorporation  of  Slavic  power,  she  wants  the  hegemony 
of  the  Slavic  world.  This  end  she  has  in  the  main 
pursued  without  external  help :  once  she  has  had  Aus- 
trian military  aid  against  the  Turks,  but  when  a  plan 


18  THE  BALKANS 

to  divide  Turkey  in  Europe  between  the  two  powers 
was  laid  before  her  it  was  filed  away  in  dusty  archives. 
Between  her  and  her  goal  lies  an  obstacle  difficult  to 
surmount — two  hostile  nations :  Hungary,  the  won- 
drous Magyar  state,  and  Rumania,  a  rising  power 
claiming  to  be  Latin.  By  sea  she  is  checked  through 
Great  Britain's  vigilant  guard  of  her  Oriental  trade 
through  the  Mediterranean. 

Napoleon's  seizure  of  Egypt  was  abhorrent,  of 
course,  to  Russia,  nor  could  the  Sultan  accept  him  as  the 
chosen  saviour  of  waning  Turkish  power ;  he  seemed 
greatly  to  resemble  a  wolf  in  sheep's  clothing.  Thus 
England  and  Russia  drew  together,  while  the  latter 
began  to  encourage  and  support  both  Servia  and  Mon- 
tenegro in  order  to  maintain  some  influence  in  the 
Balkans.  She  even  lent  a  hand  to  Greece,  and  England 
made  common  cause ;  while  France  stepped  into  the 
arena  as  an  abettor.  All  three  were  under  the  compul- 
sion of  popular  sympathy  with  the  oppressed.  In  vain 
and  too  late,  Austria  saw  the  mistake  in  her  policy  and 
was  long  a  helpless  observer,  until  circumstances  over 
which  she  had  little  control  gave  her  Bosnia  and  the 
Herzegovina.  It  was  a  strange  spectacle  when  Me- 
hemet  Ali  of  Egypt,  asserting  a  sovereignty  on  the 
Nile  and  in  Syria,  threatened  the  existence  of  Turkey, 
and  the  speedy  supplanting  of  a  weak  by  a  strong 
Moslem  power  at  Constantinople.  Russia  was  forced 
to  support  her  sedulous  foe,  while  both  France  and 
England  sided  with  the  rebel  to  secure  their  Egyptian 
interests.  The  Czar  obtained  in  compensation  for  his 
help  an  obligation  from  the  Sultan  to  close  the  Dar- 
danelles against  Russian  foes ;  thereupon  he  assumed 
the  protectorate  of  Greek  Christians  in  Palestine,  as 
France   had   that   of   the   Latins   since   the   treaty   of 


TURKEY  AND  EUROPEAN  POLITICS    19 

Francis  I,  and  so  by  religious  influence  Russian  polit- 
ical influence  became  paramount  in  the  Balkans.  The 
Crimean  War  released  Turkey  from  her  bondage  to 
a  certain  extent;  French  influence  gained  the  ascend- 
ency at  Constantinople  once  again.  As  the  second 
French  empire  waned,  Russia's  scheming,  never  re- 
mitted for  an  instant,  secured  once  more  a  ground  for 
intervention  in  behalf  of  the  downtrodden  rayahs,  and 
the  swift  campaigns  of  Ignatieff  with  Rumanian  aid 
as  a  determinative  element  of  success  were  followed 
by  the  attempted  dictation  of  a  treaty  at  San  Stefano 
almost  within  sight  of  Constantinople,  which  would 
have  completely  dismembered  Turkey's  European  pos- 
sessions. The  great  powers  would  not  tolerate  such 
high-handed  procedure;  the  theatrical  statesman  then 
premier  of  Great  Britain,  Disraeli,  sent  a  fleet  through 
the  Dardanelles  and  transported  Indian  troops  to  the 
Mediterranean.  The  Treaty  of  Berlin  followed  in 
1878;  made  only  to  be  violated,  it  has  since  steadily 
and  gradually  fallen  into  desuetude,  and  the  latest 
events  have  remitted  it  to  the  rummage  chamber  of 
antiquated  public  charters. 


II 

TURKISH  RULE  UNDER  ABDUL  HAMID 


21 


II 

TURKISH  RULE  UNDER  ABDUL  HAMID 

What  our  grandfathers  and  fathers  called  Turkey  in  Misconcep- 
Europe  was  governed  much  as  the  Turkey  in  Europe  of  tions  Con_ 
ten  years  ago  was  still  governed.  It  was  bounded  by  "™ng 
Austria,  Russia,  the  Black  Sea,  the  Bosporus,  the  Sea 
of  Marmora,  the  Dardanelles,  the  ^Egean,  Ionian,  and 
Adriatic  Seas.  At  that  time  the  study  of  geography 
was  strangely  embryonic  and  imperfect.  School  chil- 
dren had  spread  before  them  maps  upon  which  there 
were  splashes  of  vivid  color  and  unflinching  lines  of 
black  which  marked  national  boundaries.  It  is  no 
exaggeration  to  say  that  the  passing  generation  had 
in  its  youth  little  conception  but  that  the  homogeneity 
of  nationality  with  which  they  were  familiar  at  home 
was  to  be  found  within  the  territories  represented  by 
each  of  these  dividing  lines.  If  it  was  England  for 
the  English  and  France  for  the  French  and  so  on,  why 
not  Turkey  for  the  Turks  ?  Starting  from  this  deep- 
seated  conviction,  a  few  of  the  better  educated  and 
more  intelligent  read  such  delightful  books  of  travel  in 
Turkey  and  the  Orient  as  Byron  and  Kinglake  had 
rendered  attractive  and  fashionable.  Even  from  the 
perusal  of  them,  there  survived  a  general  impression 
that  within  the  Ottoman  empire  there  were  ruling 
Turks  who  were  Mohammedans  and  gentlemen;  that 
the  aristocracy  was  fairly  refined  and  likewise  Mo- 
hammedan ;  and  that  there  was  otherwise  a  huge  plebe- 
ian mob  separated  in  refinement  and  culture  from  the 
rest  by  an  impassable  chasm. 

23 


24 


THE  BALKANS 


Comparative 
Value  of 
Travel 
Studies 


For  this  and  other  reasons,  there  was  crass  ig- 
norance of  the  situation  among  those  who  twenty  years 
ago  constituted  the  overwhelming  majority  of  Western 
nations  throughout  the  Western  world;  Byzantium 
and  the  migrations  of  peoples  in  Eastern  Europe  were 
matters  either  of  the  vaguest  knowledge  or,  more  com- 
monly, of  total  ignorance.  They  were  not  aware  that 
Turkey  in  Europe,  entire,  and  Turkey  in  Asia,  in  part, 
were  populated  by  peoples  who,  whatever  they  might 
be,  were  not  Turks  at  all,  having  no  slightest  relation 
with  their  masters  in  blood,  religion,  institutions,  or 
aspirations.  It  is  a  humiliating  fact  that,  even  in  the 
highest  Western  civilization,  somehow  the  man  on  the 
street,  the  person  who  babbles  about  anything  and 
everything,  really  forms  that  self-styled  public  opinion 
with  which  intelligence  is  in  perpetual  warfare.  It  is 
but  a  very  short  time  since  that  kind  of  public  opinion 
thought  the  question  of  Turkey  to  be  no  question  at 
all.  Why,  of  course,  the  Turks  should  have  Turkey; 
certainly ;  what  business  is  it  of  others  to  meddle  with 
a  man  in  his  own  home? 

There  seems  to  be  a  general  agreement  that  travel  is 
a  highly  commendable  form  both  of  recreation  and 
study.  In  this  impression  there  is  some  truth,  but  in 
reality  there  are  only  two  kinds  of  observation  by  in- 
telligent travelers  which  have  real  value  for  intelli- 
gent readers.  Foreigners  who  live  long  in  any  land 
and  make  a  careful  study  of  its  conditions,  of  its  peo- 
ple, of  its  institutions  and  politics,  probably  produce 
the  literature  of  travel  which  has  the  highest  intrinsic 
value.  Nevertheless,  long  residence  among  any  people, 
particularly  among  Orientals,  blunts  original  national 
character  and  conviction,  diminishes  the  keenness  of 
observation,  and  results  in  a  subtle  form  of  assimila- 


HAMIDIAN  RULE  25 

tion.  Hence  therefore  the  impressions  of  a  mere  tour- 
ist, wandering  leisurely  from  place  to  place,  coming 
little  in  contact  with  the  people,  but  using  his  eyes  and 
his  judgment  with  the  vigor  of  the  person  fresh  from 
home  and  soon  to  return  thither,  have  a  value  all  their 
own,  which  is  possibly  quite  as  high  as  that  in  more 
elaborate  studies.  For  this  reason  the  author  ventures 
to  give  some  account  of  what,  in  the  capacity  of  a  tour- 
ist under  the  Hamidian  regime,  he  himself  saw  and 
heard.  Were  it  possible  to  give  an  exact  reproduction 
of  the  impressions  received  by  one  making,  as  it  were, 
a  bound  from  the  heart  of  the  West  into  the  heart  of 
the  Hither  East,  much  would  be  made  clear  which  is 
certainly  even  yet  very  dim  to  the  great  mass  of  edu- 
cated people,  whose  only  travels  are  those  of  the 
fireside. 

If  the  population  of  what  was  two  years  ago  called  Some 
Turkey  in  Europe  was,  as  is  likely,  about  six  millions,  g£^es- 
less  than  a  third  were  Turks;  and  in  those  vast  regions  a  Personai 
once  under  Turkish  sway,  the  lands  of  Greece,  Bosnia, 
the  Herzegovina,  Servia,  Bulgaria,  and  Rumania,  there 
are  virtually  no  Turks  at  all.     They  can  live  only  as 
they  find  dumb,  servile  human  cattle  to  herd,  drive, 
and  slaughter.    They  never  forget  that  they  came  from 
the  upland  steppes  of  Asia;  they  have  always  been 
careful,  when  possible,  to  bury  their  dead  across  the 
Bosporus  in  the  soil  of  Asia.    From  Asia  they  came,  to 
Asia  they  return  with  little  regret ;  and  being  a  totally 
unhistoric  people,  it  is  doubtful  whether  centuries  of 
European  abode  would  in  their   future  tradition  be 
much  more  than  a  tale  of  Scheherezade. 

Of  the  primitive  folk-stocks  the  Turk  has  retained 
nearly  all  the  virtues,  and  they  are  many — so  many 
as  to  make  a  normal  Turkish  gentleman  a  most  agree- 


26  THE  BALKANS 

able  and  even  lovable  person.  With  his  womankind 
uncontaminated  by  Western  notions;  with  his  faith  in 
Islam — a  faith  not  native  but  acquired  and  inherited — 
undisturbed  either  by  Arabic  mysticism  or  Occidental 
casuistry ;  with  his  pride  of  official  rank  and  garb  fully 
gratified  or  with  scope  for  his  unquestioned  and  oft- 
proven  ability  as  a  soldier,  the  Turk  exhibits  many  fine 
qualities.  It  matters  not  that  his  salary  as  an  official 
is  never  paid;  there  is  the  land  of  "baksheesh"  or 
bribery  always  open.  It  matters  not  that  the  shelter 
which  we  call  his  house  is  bare,  rickety  or  in  disrepair; 
is  he  not  naturally  a  dweller  in  booths  or  tents?  It 
matters  not  that  his  towns  are  filthy  and  unwhole- 
some, that  disease  and  death  stalk  abroad;  his  hour 
will  strike  only  when  fate  ordains,  as  it  would  anyway. 
It  matters  not  that  there  is  plenty  to-day  and  want 
to-morrow ;  such  are  the  vicissitudes  of  life.  If  it 
rains,  we  are  wet,  that  is  all,  but  if  the  sun  shines  let 
us  enjoy  it;  when  battle  is  raging  let  us  fight  too,  so 
Allah  wills,  and  so  on  through  the  long  range  of  hu- 
man conditions  and  conduct. 

To  apprehend  a  resignation  that  verges  on  apathy 
we  must  reverse  almost  every  concept  we  have;  in 
order  to  understand  and  do  justice  to  the  Turk  we  need 
a  fourth  dimension.  He  is  our  antipodes.  But  he  is 
domestic,  hospitable  within  his  possibilities,  companion- 
able, interested  in  you  and  in  such  life  as  touches  his 
interests;  he  has  a  dignity,  a  repose,  a  pleasant  way 
which  are  delightful.  Above  all,  strange  as  it  may 
sound  at  first,  he  can  be,  for  reasons  of  expediency,  the 
most  tolerant  of  all  human  beings.  There  are  in  Tur- 
key more  faiths,  sects,  denominations,  and  religions, 
more  license  in  profession  and  behavior,  than  in  any 
other  territorial  expanse  of  equal  size.     If  only  the 


HAMIDIAN  RULE  27 

adherents  of  these  various  cults  pay,  often  and  enough, 
and  if  only  they  do  not  in  act,  word,  or  precept  subvert 
existing  rule  and  order,  nothing  else  matters  at  all. 
Islam  is  the  most  democratic  of  all  natural  religions; 
there  are  no  orders,  no  priestly  intermediation,  no 
governors,  no  hierarchy  of  any  sort.  The  naturally 
independent  temper  of  the  Turk  is  thus  confirmed  by 
his  faith.  There  is  the  caliph,  the  Padishah,  the  em- 
bodiment of  theocratic  power;  and  then  there  are  all 
the  rest,  exalted  or  humbled,  enriched  or  impoverished, 
preserved  or  destroyed,  kept  alive  or  killed,  regulated 
in  every  relation  of  life  by  a  power  and  conditions  that 
affect  all  alike ;  birth,  inheritance,  fealty,  no  such  mere 
accident  counts  in  life  at  all. 

Tolerant  and  democratic — both,  in  a  contemptuous 
sort  of  way — the  Turk  is  also  in  ordinary  life  a  kindly, 
gentle  soul.  His  women-folk  are  under  no  compulsion 
or  discipline,  he  is  generous  to  the  very  utmost;  his 
slaves  are  scarcely  aware  of  their  bondage,  so  easy  is 
the  yoke.  With  divorce  dependent  upon  his  whim  and 
accomplished  by  his  own  unfettered  will,  provided  he 
can  repay  the  wife's  dowry,  the  rearrangement  of  do- 
mestic relations  is  so  easy  that  social  conditions  are 
scarcely  disturbed.  A  disordered  mind  makes  its  un- 
happy owner  a  public  charge;  beggars  are  humored, 
tolerated,  and  supported  by  alms,  especially  the  halt, 
the  maimed,  and  the  blind ;  before  their  banishment, 
the  dogs  of  Constantinople  drove  ladies  from  the  side- 
walks and  made  vehicles  swerve  by  their  sluggish 
inertia.  Easy  indifference  and  a  liberal  soul  combine 
to  make  Turkish  life  a  thing  apart;  a  sort  of  genial 
inefficiency  permeates  it  all.  Yet  beneath  it  is  the  vol- 
cano of  indiscipline.  Guile  and  the  oiled  feather  first ; 
then,    if   thwarted,    fury   and   recklessness.      Smooth 


28  THE  BALKANS 

promises  with  perpetual  delay ;  then  performance  un 
der  compulsion  with  the  Parthian  arrows  of  atrocious 
bloodshed, 
b.  Official  Some  such  characterization,  however  imperfect,  is 

essential  to  any  grasp  of  the  first  principles  of  Turkish 
rule.  In  the  apogee  of  its  extent  and  greatness,  those 
who  immigrated  and  seated  themselves  as  the  mighty 
were,  as  was  explained,  in  a  minority,  much  as  were 
the  conquering  Teutons  in  the  western  provinces  of 
the  Roman  empire.  In  the  exercise  of  a  fanaticism, 
both  physical  and  spiritual,  they  simply  took  what  they 
found.  The  people  on  the  soil  were  reduced  to  a  dead 
level  of  peasant  boorishness;  the  ruling  class  stripped 
land  and  people  of  all  they  dared  to  take  without  de- 
stroying the  wellspring  of  supply.  The  arbitrary 
childishness  of  Turkish  behavior  to-day  is  probably 
a  fair  sample  of  what  it  always  has  been.  After  years 
of  contact  with  Western  ways  they  have,  to  be  sure, 
acquired  something  of  European  shiftiness  and  du- 
plicity, but  it  has  served  to  strengthen  their  own  naif 
rascality.  My  dragoman  tells  the  customs  inspector 
not  to  tumble  the  contents  of  my  trunk;  the  police 
inspector  discreetly  turns  his  eye  another  way;  the 
trunk  is  closed,  and  in  a  few  moments  the  official 
comes  trotting  to  receive  his  "gift,"  which  he  divides 
with  him  of  the  blind  eye. 

This  is  the  whole  system  in  miniature :  the  feint  of 
honesty,  the  practice  of  roguery,  a  pretense  of  knowl- 
edge, the  crassest  ignorance  in  fact.  The  Ottoman 
empire  has  army,  navy,  police,  treasury,  foreign  office, 
and  all  the  paraphernalia  of  administration,  internal 
and  external.  From  beginning  to  end  the  whole  ma- 
chinery is  an  empty  form,  a  mill  that  grinds  no  grist; 
and  the  palace  clique  or  camarilla  or  kitchen  cabinet,  or 


HAMIDIAN  RULE  29 

a  so-called  "committee"  of  malcontents,  or  a  harem 
intrigue,  or  the  Sultan's  wish  determines  the  course  of 
all  affairs.  A  parliament  met  once  under  Abdul 
Hamid,  was  adjourned,  and  for  the  ensuing  thirty 
years  never  met  again  until  the  latest  revolution  estab- 
lished or  claimed  to  establish  the  semblance  of  another 
legislature.  There  is  once  again  a  paper  constitution 
and  a  constitutional  monarch — in  name,  as  is  all  the 
rest.  Warships  float,  but  their  inefficiency  is  notorious 
and  ridiculous.  When  the  United  States  grew  rest- 
less in  the  demand  for  an  indemnity  due  for  the  de- 
struction of  American  property,  a  cruiser  was  ordered 
from  an  American  shipyard ;  it  arrived  and  anchored 
in  the  Golden  Horn,  where  it  ended  its  efficiency  in 
peace;  the  published  price  contented  the  Turks  and 
seemed,  somehow,  to  cover  the  indemnity  to  us. 

As  is  well  known,  Abdul  Hamid,  probably  the  last 
real  Moslem  Sultan,  caliph,  or  Padishah,  as  he  was 
styled,  rarely  left  the  inclosure  of  his  royal  borough, 
known  as  the  Yildiz  Kiosk.  Within  its  carefully 
guarded,  spacious  inclosures,  in  its  palaces  and  gardens 
he  abode.  Thence  he  reigned  and  ruled ;  and,  claiming 
to  be  the  successor  of  Mohammed,  he  performed  public 
worship  at  the  ceremony  of  the  selamlik  in  a  pompous 
procession  and  recession  to  and  from  the  near-by 
mosque  which  he  built  for  the  purpose.  Impressive 
as  a  spectacle,  the  selamlik  was  also  impressive  as  a 
historic  act,  for  in  it  Abdul  Hamid  appealed  to  the 
millions  and  millions  of  Islam  as  perpetuating  its 
power  and  its  system.  He  had  not  a  single  attribute 
which  entitled  him  to  arrogate  the  headship  of  Islam 
to  himself,  and  millions  of  the  faithful  refused  their 
fealty.  But  many  millions  more  passively  accepted  his 
lordship  and  admitted  the  sanctity  of  decrees  issued 


3o  THE  BALKANS 

by  his  religious  vice-regent,  the  sheik-ul-Islam.  It  was 
therefore  an  awful  thing  when  a  miscreant  found  his 
way  into  the  very  heart  of  Yildiz  Kiosk  and,  during 
the  selamlik,  flung  a  bomb,  the  dastardly  weapon  of 
anarchy.  But  the  thing  did  happen,  and  the  momen- 
tous question  arose  as  to  how  dynamite  had  been  smug- 
gled into  the  empire.  What  actually  occurred  sounds 
like  a  joke ;  but  with  a  few  other  examples  it  may  serve, 
being  a  fact,  to  illustrate  what  manner  of  men  then 
ruled  at  Constantinople. 

For  years  a  British  merchant  had  been  importing 
and  selling  fireproof  safes.  A  new  consignment  was 
in  a  ship  just  arriving.  He  was  summoned  to  the  cus- 
toms stores  to  "open"  them,  for  a  wily  official  had 
guessed  and  suggested  that  the  dreadful  explosive  had 
been  concealed  in  these  safes,  and  that  more  might  be 
found  in  the  newer  ones.  The  owner  appeared,  glad 
to  comply,  and  threw  open  wide  the  doors.  The  matter 
was  not  so  simple;  "opening"  meant  displaying  the 
packing  between  the  steel  walls;  and  so  with  sledge 
and  chisel  the  whole  consignment  was  destroyed,  and 
there  was  no  redress.  The  familiar  finance  where  the 
lender  gives  fifty,  and  the  poor,  eager  borrower  writes 
a  hundred  in  the  bond  was  long  employed  by  the  great 
usurers  of  the  West  when  Turkey  wanted  a  loan. 
Neither  principal  nor  interest  being  paid,  a  result  fore- 
seen by  the  original  parties,  the  various  countries  of 
Europe  intervened  in  Turkish  finance  to  "readjust"  the 
debt  for  the  creditors,  a  class  of  unsuspecting  investors 
upon  whom  the  obligations  had  been  unloaded  by  the 
negotiators.  So  there  exists  in  ( 'onstantinople  a  board 
of  highly  paid  gentlemen,  all  but  one  from  the  West, 
who  take  a  certain  proportion  of  the  customs  into  their 
own  hands  for  paying  interest  and  refunding  principal. 


HAMIDIAN  RULE  31 

Compared  with  those  in  our  own  American  Utopia, 
the  customs  dues  in  Turkey  are  (or  rather  were) 
trifling,  averaging  about  eleven  per  cent.  To  the 
Porte,  looking  abroad  at  the  triumphs  of  protection 
elsewhere,  it  seemed  desirable  to  fill  the  official  purses 
by  raising  the  tariff  an  average  of  three  per  cent  more. 
There  was  a  mighty  deliberation  in  all  the  state  depart- 
ments of  the  Occident.  At  last  the  measure  was  per- 
mitted, since  the  coffers  of  the  commission  in  charge 
of  the  public  debt  would  also  profit  thereby. 

But  many,  many  papers  must  first  be  signed  in  the 
ends  of  the  earth  before  the  law  promulgated  by  the 
Sultan  could  be  operative.  The  ambassadors  of  the 
Western  powers  deliberated  day  by  day  on  the  adminis- 
trative measures.  Meantime  the  Sultan  received  an 
invoice  for  glassware  purchased  in  France,  and  to  be 
used  at  Yildiz.  No  duty,  of  course,  was  to  be  paid  on 
that.  A  high  official,  chief  of  the  secret  police,  was 
sent  to  enter  it.  His  mission  was  promptly  and  suc- 
cessfully discharged,  but  not  merely  his  original  mis- 
sion; the  great  man,  finding  at  the  receipt  of  custom 
a  large  amount  of  money  which  the  collector  had  re- 
ceived in  the  regular  way  for  dues,  carried  off  not  only 
the  imported  service  of  glassware,  which  was  his  mas- 
ter's, but  the  money,  too,  which  was  also,  as  he  con- 
sidered, his  master's  and  was,  moreover,  greatly 
needed  at  Yildiz. 

The  news  of  this  characteristic  behavior  swiftly 
reached  the  meeting-place  of  the  ambassadors;  and  the 
British  representative,  who  was  the  latest  signatory 
of  the  new  tariff,  hastened  to  the  wharf  and,  finding 
the  news  true,  at  once  withdrew  the  precious  sign- 
manual  which  gave  Great  Britain's  consent.  Conster- 
nation seized  the  high  officers  of  his  Ottoman  majesty: 


32  THE  BALKANS 

why  such  supercilious  behavior,  such  needless  fuss 
about  details?  But  they  yielded,  and  the  vital  nego- 
tiation was  at  last  concluded,  with  administrative  ar- 
rangements to  preclude  the  repetition  of  such  naif 
proceedings  by  the  Turks  in  Turkey.  Why  multiply 
instances?  A  professor  entering  Turkey  from  Greece 
has  his  Persian  powder  confiscated  as  an  explosive;  a 
trading  firm  sending  into  Asia  Minor  for  eggs  is  sud- 
denly confronted  with  total  loss  because,  while  the 
permit  for  eggs  is  correct,  that  for  wood,  the  material 
of  the  cases,  is  not.    And  so  on  and  so  on. 

It  is  vital  that  the  degrees  granted  by  the  American 
school  of  medicine  at  Beirut  should  have  official  sanc- 
tion. No  trouble  whatever  to  get  the  imperial  decree ; 
but  the  members  of  the  commission  were  Turks  of 
rank,  and  as  such  might  not  easily  pass  from  place  to 
place.  Every  year  it  was  a  matter  of  complicated  ne- 
gotiation by  the  American  ambassador  to  secure  for 
these  officials  the  right  to  proceed  on  the  business  for 
which  they  have  been  duly  and  legally  designated  by 
their  august  and  all-powerful  master.  It  is  very  hard 
to  believe  that  the  machinery  of  Oriental  government 
is  as  simple  on  the  surface  or  as  intricate  in  its  work- 
ings as  it  appears,  merely  by  reason  of  incapacity.  The 
subtle  Oriental  mind  secures  some  advantage  in  its 
efforts,  or  apparent  efforts,  to  apply  worn-out  schemes 
to  new  conditions.  At  any  rate,  Turkish  rule  has 
survived  expectation  by  half  a  century,  and  it  is  its 
very  absurdity,  with  the  aid  of  a  more  or  less  perfidious 
rivalry  among  the  great  powers  of  the  West,  which 
seems  likely  to  perpetuate  it  indefinitely  at  Constanti- 
nople and  in  Asia  Minor. 

Comprehension  of  the  Oriental  question  by  western 
peoples  is   further  impeded  by  their  total   failure  to 


HAMIDIAN  RULE  33 

grasp  the  meaning  of  current  terms,  in  particular  the  Misconception 
terms  "nation"  and  "Christian,"  as  employed  in  the  ^e^urrent 
Balkan  peninsula  and  in  Asia  Minor.  There  are  large  enns 
numbers  of  Europeans  in  both :  some,  as  we  have  men- 
tioned, are  there  for  religious  purposes,  as  mission- 
aries, others  for  purely  secular  reasons,  chiefly  com- 
mercial. While  there  seems  no  real  hostility  whatever 
between  these  two  European  groups,  yet  they  see  things 
from  a  different  point  of  view  and  have  widely  vary- 
ing opinions  about  many  matters.  The  latter  class, 
with  no  exception,  as  far  as  known  to  me  and  several 
other  travelers  whom  I  have  consulted,  considers  the 
ruling  Turk  vastly  superior  to  the  so-called  Christian 
peoples  over  whom  he  rules.  Appearances  are  that 
way.  In  general,  like  all  tyrants,  whether  patriarchal, 
theocratic,  or  merely  personal,  he  is  more  human  than 
those  whom  he  oppresses.  His  victims  must  have  time 
for  recuperation  before  regeneration  comes.  We  need 
not  go  far  for  a  parallel.  The  Ashkenazi  Jew,  so 
called,  whether  he  be  really  an  Israelite  or  not,  which 
is  doubtful,  when  first  emancipated  from  the  horrid 
cruelties  inflicted  on  his  race  in  central  Europe  for 
centuries,  continues,  sometimes  for  a  generation  or 
two,  the  unpleasant  practices  by  which  he  mitigated 
his  bondage ;  but  he  finally  becomes  as  little  of  a  pre- 
suming parvenu  as  men  of  other  blood,  and  as  often 
exhibits  the  highest  virtues  of  social  life.  This  ex- 
ample is  all  around  us. 

The  subject  populations  of  Turkey  were  still  styled 
rayahs;  age  after  age  they  had  been  held  in  bondage, 
sometimes  easy,  generally  most  oppressive.  Bond 
slaves  find  the  practice  of  noble  qualities  extremely 
difficult.  Most  rayahs  kept  the  faith  of  their  fathers, 
many  followed  the  example  of  their  wealthier  kin  and 


34 


THE  BALKANS 


Definite 

Statement 

Needed 


The  Struggle 
for  Nationality 


sought,  as  elsewhere  told,  to  mitigate  their  hard  lot  by 
professing  Islam.  In  all  the  provinces  once  or  still 
under  the  Sultan  there  are  some  Mohammedans,  and 
in  a  few  there  are  many,  who  have  not  a  drop  of  Turk- 
ish or  Arabian  blood  in  their  veins,  being  pure  Aryans, 
or  Japhetites,  or  Javanes,  or  whatever  adjective  best 
describes  them.  In  the  Herzegovina  and  Bosnia  to- 
gether they  number  about  half  a  million.  Though  most 
carefully  and  considerately  treated,  they  demand  that 
their  religious  head  shall  be  appointed  from  Constanti- 
nople, thus  refusing  incorporation  in  the  Austrian 
system.  The  Mohammedans  of  Asiatic  stock,  Turks 
or  Arabs,  have  mostly  returned  to  the  land  whence 
their  fathers  came.  The  question  of  superiority  can 
therefore  be  answered  only  by  comparing  those  who 
were  once  rayahs,  but  are  now  independent  self-rulers, 
with  those  who  still  rule  in  unemancipated  lands,  rulers 
with  rulers.  Of  the  result  in  the  case  of  Bulgaria  and 
Rumania  there  cannot  be  a  question.  Bosnia  and  the 
Herzegovina  are  under  Austria's  iron  hand ;  Servia, 
though  longer  practiced  in  liberty,  inherited  peculiar 
conditions  and  horrified  the  world  by  the  savage  out- 
burst of  her  unbridled  wrath  against  a  faithless  king. 
The  European  peoples  once  subject  to  Turkey  are 
therefore  not  of  necessity  Christian  either  by  profes- 
sion or  practice,  however  widely  they  differ  in  many 
respects  from  the  Turks.  Moreover,  they  designate 
themselves  as  nations,  using  that  word  in  a  sense  of 
their  own — a  sense  similar  to  that  in  which  it  was  used 
in  central  Europe  during  the  middle  ages.  "Nation- 
alities" would  be  a  better  expression. 

It  is  sometimes  and  rather  cleverly  said  that  Amer- 
ica is  New  Europe.  In  whatever  respects  that  may  be 
true,  in  one  there  is  an  antipodal  contrast.     We  are 


HAMIDIAN  RULE  35 

busy  making,  out  of  many  widely  different  elements,  a 
great  nation,  unilingual  and  homogeneous.  Europe, 
having  passed  that  way  in  the  unification  of  France, 
Germany,  and  Italy,  is  now  returning  on  its  footsteps, 
and  the  passion  for  little  nationalities  is  exhibited  on 
every  side.  We  are  all  familiar  with  the  Irish  question ; 
we  note  with  wondering  interest  the  revived  study  of 
the  Celtic  tongue  in  Great  Britain  and  the  emphasis  on 
institutions  of  another  age.  In  Belgium  the  Flemish 
stock  struggles  for  its  language  as  never  before.  In 
Provence  the  revival  of  Provencal  literature,  so  long 
cherished,  is  now  followed  by  a  blind  struggle  against 
total  assimilation  and  by  a  demand  for  a  measure  of 
local  independence  in  the  interest  of  local  industry. 
Throughout  the  Austro-Hungarian  monarchy  every 
one  of  the  eighteen  or  more  petty  nationalities  is  as- 
serting its  right  to  live  for  and  rule  itself.  The  ques- 
tion of  Sicily  gives  the  house  of  Savoy  at  Rome  much 
to  consider,  and  separatism  in  the  German  empire 
furnishes  themes  for  its  journalists.  Everywhere  on 
the  continent  of  Europe  it  is  the  same  story,  while 
simultaneously  there  is  a  growing  nationalist  agitation 
both  in  Egypt  and  India.  This  is  the  movement  which 
brought  Rumania,  Bulgaria,  and  Servia  into  a  more  or 
less  independent  life;  it  is  the  movement  which  was 
long  surging  throughout  Turkey  in  Europe  and  cre- 
ated the  burning  question  in  Macedonia,  whence  came, 
as  of  old,  the  bitter  cry,  "Come  over  and  help  us." 
This  in  a  high  degree  was  the  cause  of  the  war. 

There  is  no  use  in  describing  the  whole  stir  and 
struggle  for  nationality  as  senseless,  a  common  desig- 
nation which  perfectly  describes  it  to  many  minds.  It 
is  not  senseless ;  the  agitation  is  real,  has  produced  vital 
results  of  a  constructive  kind,  and  in  our  day  under- 


36  THE  BALKANS 

lay  outbreaks  of  bloodshed  and  horrid  cruelty  in  lands 
that  are  fair,  among  people  who  are  innocent,  capable, 
and  urged  onward  by  noble  instincts.  The  dispersion 
of  peoples,  each  with  its  own  language,  is  represented 
in  the  scriptural  account  as  a  curse  laid  on  men  for 
high  treason  against  Almighty  God.  Europe  is  doing 
its  utmost  to  perpetuate  the  curse  and  make  it  lie 
heavy  on  millions  of  innocent  men.  Were  science  and 
its  votaries  modest,  did  theories  affect  the  academic 
world  solely,  small  harm  would  be  done  by  self-ap- 
pointed teachers.  But  ill-considered,  unproven  doc- 
trines, by  dint  of  iteration,  are  made  to  succeed  each 
other  as  accepted  rules  of  human  conduct.  Among 
many  others  the  theoretical  reconstruction  of  the 
Aryans,  of  the  Turanians  and  of  the  various  subdivis- 
ions of  the  same,  has  been  distorted  from  a  useful 
hypothesis  into  a  maxim  of  moral  guidance.  Out  of 
it  have  sprung  the  baneful  all-Slav,  all-German,  all- 
anything  movements — devices  one  and  all  of  dynastic 
land-grabbers  eager  to  use  an  unselfish  and  romantic 
sentiment  for  their  selfish  ends.  No  man  knows  at  this 
hour  what  is  a  Greco-Roman,  a  Celt,  a  Teuton,  or  a 
Slav.  The  philologists  know  the  languages  and  lan- 
guage groups,  but  no  man  of  standing  has  ever  dared 
assert  that  the  use  of  a  language  proves  the  blood  in 
the  veins  of  its  user. 

The  movements  of  peoples,  the  origin  of  races,  the 
transitions  from  type  to  type  or  the  persistence  of 
type — all  these  are  mysteries.  But  men  behave  as  if 
they  were  as  concrete  and  usable  as  the  multiplication 
table.  In  Western  Europe  there  were  types  so  strongly 
developed  that  at  least  there  was  some  excuse  for  the 
common  error.  But  when  the  doctrine  spread  east- 
ward into  less  educated  societies,  it  began  to  work  and 


HAMIDIAN  RULE  37 

is  working  havoc  with  the  gains  of  civilization.  To 
use  among  such  men  and  women  phrases  which  con- 
tain the  words  "nation,"  "people,"  "patriotism,"  "his- 
tory," etc.,  is  to  sow  the  whirlwind.  When  we  read 
that  the  Rumanians  are  Latins;  that  the  Bulgarians 
and  the  Servians  are  Slavs  of  different  nationality; 
that  Macedonians  are  Bulgarians  or  Servians,  accord- 
ing to  the  opinion  of  this  or  that  writer,  or  that  they 
are  Greek,  as  Greece  contends,  we  get  the  common 
coin  of  diplomatic  exchange;  but  it  is  spurious  and 
counterfeit  if  passed  as  historical  truth. 

There  was  little  interest  as  to  the  nationalities  of  The  Greek 
the  rayahs  while  Turkish  rule  was  strong.  They  were  Rayahs 
nearly  all  Christians  of  the  Byzantine  type,  those  in 
Europe  at  least,  and  were  hence  regarded  as  one  peo- 
ple; for  Oriental  theocracy  cannot  conceive  of  nation- 
ality apart  from  religion.  They  themselves  knew  the 
differences  in  their  origins  and  in  such  traditions  as 
they  had :  some  were  Slavs,  some  Vlachs,  and  some 
Albanians ;  some  had  the  blood  of  Trajan's  legionaries 
in  their  veins,  whatever  that  was.  But  they  felt  more 
deeply  than  they  thought;  the  hardships  of  their  com- 
mon lot  and  the  common  worship  of  their  church  gave 
them  a  stronger  sense  of  unity  than  of  disunity;  they 
were  all  non-Moslems,  all  rayahs,  and  in  a  sense  all 
Greeks.  Moreover,  as  explained  in  another  connec- 
tion, among  the  most  useful  servants  of  the  Sultans 
were  the  old  Greek  Byzantine  families  who  lived  at 
Constantinople  in  the  quarter  of  Phanar.  These  Pha- 
nariotes  were  invaluable  as  administrators  and  diplo- 
mats; resourceful,  guileful,  smooth,  elegant,  refined; 
and  for  their  precious  services  they  received  great  re- 
wards. They  were  the  Greeks  par  excellence ;  and,  run- 
ning to  and  fro  within  the  empire,  to  and  fro  without, 


38  THE  BALKANS 

they  impressed  upon  all  that  if  there  were  a  second 
race  destined  to  restore  the  empire  of  Grecian  Rome, 
they,  their  co-religionists,  those  who  spoke  their  tongue, 
were  the  coming  people. 

Hence,  within  the  memory  of  men  still  living  it  was 
the  general  conviction  that  a  greater  Greece  would 
one  day  hold  all  Turkey  in  Europe,  and  that  the  light 
of  Greek  civilization,  rekindled  in  Attica  and  on  the 
Peloponnesus,  would  shoot  northward  to  enlist  the 
whole  Greek  Church  within  Turkish  boundaries  in  the 
"great  idea,"  to  wit,  the  restoration  of  Byzantium  in 
new  and  regenerate  form.  This,  though  it  is  now 
stoutly  denied,  is  still  the  "great  idea"  of  that  portion 
of  Turkey  first  to  be  emancipated,  namely,  the  present 
kingdom  of  Greece,  whose  inhabitants  speak  a  reno- 
vated Greek  or  Romaic,  live  on  the  ideals  of  ancient 
Greece,  and  have  with  set  purpose  forgotten  the 
Albanian,  Slavic,  or  other  blood  that  flows  in  their 
veins.  Coming  from  the  West,  travelers  differ  widely 
about  the  advance  of  modern  Greece  in  Western  civili- 
zation; but  one  familiar  with  the  Orient,  and  coming 
to  Greece  from  that  quarter,  realizes  the  enormous 
progress  which  the  little  population  of  about  three 
millions  has  made  in  unifying,  elevating,  and  purifying 
itself  for  the  task  it  has  set  itself.  So  recently  as  the 
year  before  last  (1912)  it  might  have  been  truly 
asserted  that  the  Greek  government  had  made  nothing 
but  tactical  mistakes,  and  that  Greece  had  gathered  no 
fruit  from  her  national  regeneration.  But  she  bided 
her  time,  and  the  agitations  among  the  Christian  popu- 
lations still  left  to  Turkey  in  Europe  were  attributed 
in  large  measure,  and  in  all  likelihood  correctly,  to  sup- 
plies of  Greek  men  and  money. 

What  and  who  are  these  modern  Greeks  ?    The  ques- 


HAMIDIAN  RULE  39 

tion  will  be  answered  at  greater  length  in  another  place.  Modem 
For  the  present  a  paragraph  must  suffice.  The  most  Greeks 
skeptical  investigators  admit  that  in  most  of  them  is 
some  blood  transmitted  from  ancient  Greece,  and  that 
there  is  a  proportion  of  Greek  descent  in  Greece  about 
equal  to  that  of  Anglo-Saxon  descent  in  America.  For 
the  rest  the  modern  Greeks  are  either  Albanian  or  Slav 
or  Vlach.  Besides  the  Greeks  in  Greece  there  are  other 
Greeks  who  far  outnumber  them.  They  are  found  on 
all  the  coasts  of  the  Ottoman  empire;  Crete  and  the 
other  islands,  until  very  lately  under  Turkish  sover- 
eignty, have  no  other  inhabitants  important  in  num- 
bers ;  they  are  numerous  in  Asia  Minor,  in  Syria,  and 
in  Egypt.  That  they  have  a  national  type  and  a  na- 
tional character  is  undoubted,  and  they  themselves 
estimate  their  numbers  at  twelve  millions.  This  is  at 
best  an  approximation  and,  as  will  be  explained  later, 
something  of  an  exaggeration.  For  the  most  part 
these  Greeks  are  faithful  adherents  of  the  Greek  Cath- 
olic Church.  While  domiciled  elsewhere,  they  remain 
passionate  in  devotion  to  the  Greece  they  style  Hellas, 
the  modern  kingdom  whose  people  are  called  Hel- 
lenes ;  and,  being  masters  of  commerce  and  finance, 
many  of  them  have  gained  enormous  fortunes,  from 
which  they  pour  great  sums  into  Athens  particularly, 
but  into  Greece  generally,  for  public  buildings  and  en- 
dowments. To  the  outer  barbarians  who  later  deluged 
it,  the  East  Roman  empire,  Greek  as  it  was  in  speech 
and  character,  was  known  as  Rome  or  Rom  or  Rum. 
The  language  spoken  there  has  never  ceased  to  be 
spoken.  After  eighteen  hundred  years  of  devolution  or 
evolution,  according  to  the  point  of  view,  it  is  still 
spoken  by  these  millions,  and,  for  the  reason  just  given, 
it  is  by  them  called  Romaic,  to  distinguish  it  from  the 


4o 


THE  BALKANS 


Hellenic,  which  means  either  pure  old  Greek,  or  the 
modern  written  language  of  educated  Greeks  in  Greece, 
a  language  really  renovated  and  cultivated  by  enrich- 
ment from  classical  Greek.  In  this  remodeling,  modern 
Greek  resembles  modern  Norwegian.  The  passion  for 
nationality,  equally  strong  in  the  extreme  northwest 
and  southeast  of  Europe,  has  in  both  had  recourse  to 
the  same  means  for  securing  apartness  and  distinction. 
Albania  At  first  sight  it  seems  very  curious  that  the  national 

costume  of  modern  Greece  was  adopted  or  adapted 
from  that  of  a  stock  not  Greek  at  all,  a  little  folk  the 
most  remarkable  of  the  European  continent,  namely, 
the  Albanians,  a  people,  as  far  as  we  know,  absolutely 
without  any  close,  or  at  least  calculable,  affinity  with 
any  other,  whether  of  race,  speech,  or  institutions; 
still  using  the  oldest  known  European  language ;  re- 
taining, without  unity  of  religion,  habitat  or  manners, 
a  unity  of  nature,  appearance,  and  character  which  sets 
them  absolutely  apart  from  the  surrounding  popula- 
tions, with  whom  they  mingle  freely  but  do  not 
coalesce.  The  explanation  is  that  in  a  high  sense  they 
are  the  makers  of  modern  Greece. 
Slavic  But  if  modern  Greece  owes  much  to  the  Albanians, 

Uprising  jt  seems  as  if  her  ambition  were  quenched,  her  destiny 

thwarted,  by  the  rejuvenescence  of  another  folk-stock 
which  is  not  even  approximately  indigenous,  but  with- 
in historic  times  has  come  from  afar.  It  is  called 
Slavic  because  it  uses  a  Slavic  tongue,  a  language  which 
the  immigrant  nomads  brought  with  them  and  gradu- 
ally forced  upon  populations  which  had  known  Roman 
culture.  These  populations  were  in  a  measure  Aryan, 
that  is,  related  in  speech  and  structure  to  other  Euro- 
peans, but  with  them  was  intermingled  generously  a 
middle  Asiatic  race  called   Bulgars.     These  elements 


HAMIDIAN  RULE  41 

gradually  melted  into  one  stem,  which  now  comprises 
Servians,  Illyrians,  Croatians,  Bosnians,  Herzego- 
vinians,  Montenegrins,  Macedonians,  and  Bulgarians. 
The  two  districts  of  Moldavia  and  Wallachia,  which 
form  the  present  kingdom  of  Rumania,  were  not  en- 
tirely engulfed  by  the  wandering  hordes  of  Slavs;  at 
least  they  retained  the  form  of  a  Romance  language, 
and  in  many  districts  they  kept  their  Roman-Moesian 
blood  fairly  pure.  Surrounded  on  all  sides  by  Slav- 
speaking  peoples,  they  have  not  escaped  Slavic  in- 
fluences in  vocabulary  and  social  qualities,  but  they  are 
as  pure  a  race  as  any  other  not  a  recently  mixed  one, 
as  are  Turks,  English,  Americans,  and  their  own  Bul- 
garian neighbors. 

Hence  all  the  woes  and  sorrow  and  cruelty  in  Mace-  Macedonia 
donia.  This  situation  has  indefinitely  postponed  the 
restoration  of  New  Byzantium,  the  erection  of  a  Greek 
imperial  structure  with  its  administrative  center  on  the 
Bosporus.  Its  immediate  result,  however,  was  and  is 
the  heartbreaking  situation  of  the  people  who  dwell 
in  the  vales  on  the  southern  slopes  of  the  Rhodope 
Mountains.  The  population  of  Macedonia  is  even 
more  heterogeneous  than  that  of  the  lands  east  or  west. 
Here  are  all  the  Slavic  stocks,  or,  rather,  here  is  the 
collective  stock,  for  the  lines  of  division  are  most  un- 
certain, some  Macedonians  tending  toward  Greece, 
some  toward  Servia,  some  toward  Bulgaria.  More- 
over, though  their  language  is  sufficiently  unitary,  yet 
agitators  and  propagandists  note  the  slightest  local 
differences  as  a  basis  for  determining  whether  the 
communities  be  Serb  or  Bulgar  or  possibly  Greek,  for 
in  some  of  the  communes  a  Romaic  vocabulary  be- 
clouds the  origin  of  the  stock.  The  individuals  thus 
differentiated,  as  we  explain  in  the  sequel,  are  not  very 


42  THE  BALKANS 

firmly  anchored  in  what  they  call  their  nationalities :  a 
Bulgar  of  the  exarchate,  for  example,  who  finds  diffi- 
culty to-day  in  understanding  the  neighboring  Serb 
of  the  patriarchate,  may  for  an  adequate  consideration 
be  Serb  or  Greek  to-morrow.  The  situation  may  at 
any  moment  be  reversed  by  a  change  of  conditions, 
and  the  change  is  sometimes  kaleidoscopic. 
Turkey  in  The  Sublime  Porte  again  and  again  promised  such 

Macedonia        reform  in  the  administration  of  Macedonia  as  would 
secure  stability  and  peace.     It  promised  anything  the 
powers  demanded  as  often  as  they  demanded.     Why 
not?     There  was  no  intention  of  performance,  and 
there  would  not  be  the  slightest  possibility  of  perform- 
ance, even  if  there  were  the  best  possible  will.    Besides 
the  Slavs,  Servian  or  Bulgarian,  the  Greeks  and  the 
Albanians,  there  is  a  great  contingent  of  Vlachs,  some 
in   Epirus,    some   in   Thessaly,   many   in   Macedonia. 
These  mysterious  people  claim  to  be  Rumanians ;  they 
speak  a  Rumanian  dialect,  strongly  impregnated,  how- 
ever, with  words  and  constructions  taken  from  contig- 
uous peoples.     They  are  industrious  and  thrifty,  but 
they  are  scheming,  and  are  regarded  with  anxious  sus- 
picion by  their  neighbors.     On  the  questions  which 
so  agitate  the  world  around  them,  their  attitude  is 
enigmatical;  but,  like  all  the  rest,  they  are  far  from 
resigned  and  obedient  to  Turkish  rule  in  any  degree. 
In  the  main,  they,  like  the  Albanians,  lean  toward  the 
Greeks,  although,  again  as  in  Albania,  there  is  a  mi- 
nority  party   otherwise  disposed.      Although   widely 
different   in  habits,  some  of  them  living  in  villages 
while  many  are  nomadic  herdsmen,  there  is  no  ques- 
tion as  to  their  essential  unity. 

This  distracted  country,  therefore,  is  almost  an  an- 
thropological museum;  only,  the  specimens  are  shown 


HAMIDIAN  RULE  43 

in  a  chaotic  mechanical  mixture,  not  in  orderly  ar- 
rangement. Encouraged  by  the  example  of  the  three 
Danubian  kingdoms,  and  especially  by  the  experience 
of  that  anomalous  portion  of  Bulgaria  known  as 
Rumelia,  which  fell  off  from  Turkey  with  no  battles 
except  those  of  words,  the  natives  of  Macedonia  long 
for  deliverance,  for  entrance  into  the  promised  land 
of  self-administration.  Over  the  former  borders  there 
were  Servia,  Bulgaria,  and  Greece :  all  beckoning,  all 
lusting  for  increase  of  territory,  wealth,  and  popula- 
tion. Of  the  three,  Bulgaria  had  in  Abdul  Hamid's 
time  the  advantage.  It  began  to  woo  soonest ;  its 
language  has  certain  suffixes  like  those  used  in  Mace- 
donia ;  it  has  a  church  using  Slavic  in  its  services  and 
taking  no  minutest  direction  from  the  Turkish  capital; 
and,  above  all,  it  had,  in  the  year  19 10,  an  army  be- 
lieved to  be  of  high  morale,  thoroughly  equipped  and 
drilled,  quite  ready  for  a  coup  like  that  which  made 
Rumelia  Bulgarian. 

On  the  other  hand,  Greece  had  the  money,  and  those 
who  know  Macedonia  best  have  asserted  that  most  of 
the  agitation  is  due  to  unscrupulous  bands  that  are 
half  bandit,  set  on  foot  and  supported  by  Greek  cash. 
Servia  kept  her  movement  of  agitation  going,  but  her 
home  affairs  were  a  serious  detriment  to  her  ambitions. 
Three  years  ago  the  ablest  Servian  writer  was  con- 
tending that  there  are  in  Macedonia  lines  of  division, 
racial,  territorial  and  linguistic,  and  that  the  rivals 
should  end  their  rivalry  by  a  tripartite  division,  each 
taking  its  own.  Meantime  Turkey,  under  the  wily 
Abdul  Hamid,  the  one  most  accomplished  opportunist 
in  politics,  had  really  nothing  to  do  except  to  foment 
race  hatred  and  division  between  Christians,  continu- 
ing as  of  yore  to  collect  heavy  taxes  where  resistance 


44  THE  BALKANS 

was  either  spasmodic,  unorganized,  or  thwarted  by  the 
internal  dissension  of  the  communes.  There  was 
cruelty  and  bloodshed  and  anarchy ;  the  nominal  ad- 
ministration probably  abetted  it  all,  certainly  did  not 
stop  it ;  but  the  prime  movers  were  the  agitators, 
either  native  or  imported.  As  was  said  before,  Turkey 
could  not  keep  a  single  promise  of  reform  if  she  would, 
and  would  not  if  she  could.  Divide  ct  impcra.  The 
Servian  bands,  the  Bulgarian  bands,  the  Greek  bands 
entered  Macedonia  and  worked  their  will  on  the  natives 
and  on  each  other;  the  Turk  still  collected  his  taxes, 
and  possibly  all  the  more  easily  because  of  the  unrest 
and  recurrent  anarchy. 

Abdul  Hamid  appeared  to  understand  fairly  well  the 
game  of  European  politics.  Such  extraordinary  per- 
formances as  take  place  within  the  Austro-Hungarian 
empire  could  not  escape  his  notice.  German  against 
Slav  and  Magyar,  Magyar  against  Slav  and  German 
and  Rumanian,  dire  dissensions,  even  among  the  Slavs 
themselves,  all  in  the  sacred  name  of  church,  or  nation, 
or  language,  or  race,  or  whatever  it  may  be — such  a 
mess  of  centrifugal  forces  apparently  does  not  make 
an  Austria-Hungary  very  strong  for  external  affairs. 
Yet  the  destiny  of  the  "eastern  realm,"  which  is  what 
Oesterreich  means,  is,  in  the  minds  of  many  both  with- 
out and  within  it,  down  the  Danube.  Russia  is  never 
idle  in  the  use  of  Pan-Slavism  for  her  purposes,  and  by 
far  the  largest  number  of  inhabitants  in  the  Danube 
valley  are  Slavs.  There  was  and  probably  still  is  a 
Slavic  society,  claiming  an  immense  membership,  of 
which  the  president  is  a  Roman  (not  Greek)  Catholic 
Russian  general,  continuously  wooing  these  popula- 
tions in  Russia's  interest.  Its  agents  fulminated  for 
years  in  books  and  papers  against  the  sorrowful  effects 


HAMIDIAN  RULE  45 

of  the  "sauerkraut  and  sausage"  civilization  forced  by- 
Austria  on  the  long-suffering  Herzegovinians  and 
Bosnians.  Then  there  were  the  three  quasi-indepen- 
dent kingdoms,  which  heartily  detested  one  another, 
but  finally  did  federate  against  Turkey  and  might  even 
do  so  once  more  against  either  Austro-Hungarian  or 
Russian  predominance  in  the  Danube  valley  and  their 
peninsula  generally. 

These  were  the  nearer  cares  of  Sultan  Abdul 
Hamid,  but  he  prided  himself  on  his  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  the  international  jealousies  of  the  powers 
further  west,  being  firmly  convinced  that  the  very  exist- 
ence of  Turkey  in  Europe,  since  1877,  was  due  to  his 
tact  and  nice  discrimination.  He  was  keenly  aware  of 
what  public  opinion  in  the  West  could  accomplish,  and 
of  how  it  was  formed.  But  he  was  also  convinced  that, 
constitutional  government  being  everywhere  a  name 
and  a  form,  the  true  Turk  is  less  of  a  hypocrite  in 
his  absolutism  than  the  head  of  any  monarchical 
democracy. 

Abdul  Hamid  himself  was  a  contradiction,  utterly  Abdul  Hamid 
inconsistent  and  incomprehensible  to  the  Western 
mind,  and  likewise,  as  far  as  our  information  goes,  to 
the  Oriental  mind.  On  the  one  hand,  his  interest  ap- 
peared to  be  mainly  European,  and  he  made  on  occa- 
sion a  great  show  of  the  very  slender  Western  culture 
which  he  possessed.  He  mustered  all  his  charm  for 
those  who  represented  the  West,  made  desired  conces- 
sions with  the  most  graceful  manner,  appointed  the 
friends  of  his  friends  to  pleasant  and  lucrative  posi- 
tions in  the  Ottoman  service,  emphasized  the  position 
of  his  empire  as  a  European  state,  and  carefully  at- 
tended to  the  question  of  alliances.  After  having  been, 
as  was  his  father,  almost  under  the  tutelage  of  Great 


46  THE  BALKANS 

Britain  and  her  remarkable  ambassador  Lord  Stratford 
de  Redclyffe,  he  then  turned  and  vented  his  bitterness 
upon  that  power  when  Egypt  was  occupied:  finally  he 
concluded  that  Germany  and  the  German  emperor  were 
most  likely  to  perpetuate  his  sway,  at  least  for  a  few 
wars,  over  what  was  left  of  European  Turkey. 

Yet,  for  perfect  play  in  such  a  game,  much  is  needed 
which  either  willfully  or  ignorantly  he  left  undone  and 
did  not  attempt.  His  real  life  was  in  the  other  and 
true  side  of  his  character.  Privately  he  was  most  at- 
tentive to  the  Moslem  traditions  and  to  the  practice  of 
polygamy;  and  the  seat  of  Turkish  power  was  under 
his  tarboosh,  not  in  the  divan  of  his  ministers  nor  in 
the  great  administrative  departments,  whose  palaces 
form  a  feature  of  the  capital  city.  In  the  palace  and 
almost  to  the  exclusion  of  the  anxious  patriot  proud  of 
Turkey's  past,  eager  for  her  well-being  and  desirous  to 
reform  a  rotten  administration,  there  appeared  from 
time  to  time  the  willful,  impatient,  crafty,  timid  tyrant 
of  Oriental  tradition.  Mewed  up  for  all  the  days  of 
the  year,  except  perhaps  half  a  dozen,  behind  the  in- 
closures  of  Yildiz,  he  made  all  his  public  appearances 
in  connection  with  the  faith  and  practice  of  Islam. 
Though  his  ultimate  fate  seemed  to  depend  on  the  Oc- 
cident, his  prestige,  as  he  well  knew,  depended  on  the 
Orient.  He  had  not  a  single  claim  to  be  caliph,  being 
neither  Arab  nor  lineally  descended  from  the  Prophet 
nor  chosen  by  the  Mohammedan  world ;  yet  by  dint 
of  assumption  and  agitation  he  was  so  recognized  by 
a  majority  of  the  orthodox. 

The  Shiite  Persians,  of  course,  loathe  the  Sunnite 
orthodox,  whether  the  Sultan  be  caliph  or  no,  because 
they  prevented  the  just  succession  of  Ali,  the  Prophet's 
son,  in  the  Caliphate;  but  the  agents  of  the  usurping 


HAMIDIAN  RULE  47 

Turk  were  found  everywhere  else  throughout  the  Mos- 
lem world  working  in  the  interest  of  Pan-Islamism, 
with  the  Sultan  as  caliph  and  recognized  head.  In 
India,  Central  Asia,  and  China,  in  Java  and  in  Africa, 
even  in  southern  Russia,  they  moved  the  faithful  to  en- 
thusiasm for  the  Sultan  as  the  successor  of  Moham- 
med. This  was  his  anchor  to  windward,  and  it  gave 
him  a  strong  mooring.  It  was  not  forgotten  by  him 
that  both  Great  Britain  and  France  have  innumerable 
subjects,  fanatic  Mohammedans,  who  would  see  in  vio- 
lence, or  even  in  a  slight  to  the  Sultan,  a  sacrilegious 
act  against  their  cherished  faith.  It  was  for  this  reason 
that  the  weekly  prayer  which  Abdul  Hamid  made  in  his 
own  modest,  personal  mosque  of  Yildiz  was  the  occa- 
sion of  a  ceremony,  alike  military  and  religious,  de- 
vised and  performed  to  impress  the  whole  world  of 
Islam.  In  this  half  hour's  performance  he  was  not  the 
exquisite  European  who  had  traveled,  who  knows  men 
and  lands,  who  identifies  himself  with  the  general  wel- 
fare of  Europe  and  the  West ;  he  was  the  theocratic 
ruler  over  the  fate  and  fortunes  of  millions  upon  mil- 
lions of  the  world's  elect,  who  alone  have  life,  light, 
and  immortality,  who  are  sure  of  a  world  to  come 
which  dwarfs  to  vanishing  the  world  that  is. 

It  is  trite  to  observe  that  no  man  can  be  double,  no 
man  can  be  the  inscrutable  Asiatic  despot  and  the  genial 
constitutional  ruler  of  the  West ;  yet  during  the  selam- 
lik,  surrounded  by  a  living  wall  of  choice  troops  thou- 
sands in  number,  Abdul  Hamid  made  his  effort  at  the 
former  role.  As  his  fine  equipage  dashed  past  the 
visiting  tourist  who  had  secured  admission  to  the  in- 
closure  by  the  kindness  of  the  ambassador,  there  was 
seen,  sitting  on  the  front  seat,  facing  his  Sultan,  the 
highest  official  of  the  empire.     In  the  place  of  honor 


4S  THE  BALKANS 

was  a  man  of  purest  Turkish  type,  with  curtained  and 
mystical  eye,  prominent  nose,  and  a  full  mouth,  with 
hair  and  moustaches  dyed  a  blue-black,  with  square 
shoulders  that  felt  the  weight  of  care,  suspicion,  and 
craft,  but  bore  it  doggedly — a  man  who  claimed  from 
the  nations,  peoples,  and  tribes  of  the  empire  the  obe- 
dience due  to  an  absolute  master,  from  all  Moham- 
medans wherever  found  the  reverence  due  to  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  Prophet.  The  onlooker  got  but  a 
glimpse,  of  course,  but  it  was  a  most  impressive  mo- 
ment. In  the  devotion  of  approach  to  the  throne  of 
Allah,  the  Padishah  sat  impassive  while  the  imperial 
coachmen  urged  the  splendid  steeds ;  when  he  emerged 
from  the  house  of  prayer  he  took  the  reins  in  his  own 
imperial  hands,  while  his  well-trained  horses  whirled 
him  and  his  two  attendants  back  to  the  palace  and  the 
harem. 

This  was  the  last  of  the  contradictions  noted  in  re- 
gard to  true  Turkish  rule.  Viewed  logically  in  the 
light  of  homely  common  sense,  the  maintenance  of 
such  a  system  was  utterly  preposterous.  When  it  is 
realized  that  Christians,  of  churches  both  orthodox 
and  schismatic,  are  oppressed  by  unbelievers,  that  the 
holiest  spots  of  Christian  ground  are  in  the  keeping  of 
infidels,  that  savagery  and  barbarism  were  fostered  and 
perpetuated,  and  hideous  cruelties  practiced  through- 
out this  empire,  that  day  and  night  the  cries  of  the  in- 
nocent, outraged  and  brutally  murdered,  ascended  to 
heaven  from  lands  otherwise  beautiful  and  prosperous, 
and  that  all  this  was  going  on  under  and  by  virtue  of 
European  guarantees — no  wonder  that  earnest  men 
and  women  throughout  Christendom  assailed  the  ears 
of  their  rulers  and  cried  in  despair,  "How  long,  how 
long?"    This,  however,  is  the  obverse  of  the  shield ;  the 


HAMIDIAN  RULE  49 

reverse  is  quite  different.  Whatever  was  the  case  a  few 
years  since — and  no  one  now  doubts  that  Turkish  sol- 
diers were  then  the  criminal  brutes — in  the  latest 
years  of  Hamidian  rule  everything  was  changed; 
the  brigands  who  rendered  Macedonia  a  hell  on  earth, 
were  outlaws,  supported  and  instigated  by  the  self- 
styled  "patriots"  of  one  or  other  of  the  three  bordering 
Balkan  States,  while,  under  pressure  from  the  Euro- 
pean concert,  Turkish  troops  make  some  outward  show 
of  repressing  the  disorder.  Time  and  the  chapter  of 
accidents  were  the  last  resource  of  European  states- 
men regarding  Turkey  in  Europe.  It  long  seemed 
vital  to  peace  and  the  balance  of  power  elsewhere  that 
the  realm  of  the  Sultan  should  be  kept  intact. 

But  European  diplomacy  suddenly  saw  a  new  and  Balkan 
alarming  vision,  the  great  light  of  a  general  Balkan  Conflagration 
conflagration.  Less  than  two  years  ago  it  would  have 
seemed  preposterous  that  four  Balkan  States  should 
be  permitted  to  wage  open  war  for  the  possession  or 
partition  of  Macedonia,  that  the  area  of  desolation  and 
oppression  would  thus  be  indefinitely  extended  in  time 
and  space.  Yet  their  recent  clandestine  confederation 
and  the  ensuing  war  has  had  no  other  end  or  aim. 

The  atrocities  of  Macedonia,  it  must  not  be  forgot- 
ten, were  mainly  the  work  of  Christians.  They  were 
determined  to  force  either  European  intervention  or  a 
Balkan  war,  and  in  the  latter  desperate  adventure  they 
were  successful.  In  the  summer  of  1907  the  Porte  de- 
clared officially,  and  probably  truthfully,  that  it  knew 
of  a  hundred  Greek  bands,  each  numbering  thirty  and 
upward,  financed  by  an  Athens  committee  and  com- 
manded by  Greek  officers  in  disguise.  The  Serbs 
brought  similar  charges  against  Bulgaria,  and  vice 
versa,  with  Greece  reiterating  like  indictments  against 


50  THE  BALKANS 

both.  Europe  was  willing  to  risk  neither  horn  of  the 
dilemma.  The  foremost  interests  of  the  West  in  the 
Hither  East  were  commercial  and  missionary.  Both 
were  jeopardized  by  the  possibility  of  any  other  rule 
over  Turkish  lands  than  the  misrule  which  existed. 
The  Slavic  ideas  of  nationality  do  not  include  missions, 
either  Roman  or  Protestant.  Under  the  Hamidian 
regime  these  missions  had  a  certain  standing  and  pro- 
tection. And  no  sooner  has  a  new  state  been  organized 
in  the  Balkans  than  the  commercial  door,  open  under 
Turkish  control,  was  closed  in  the  face  of  all  the  great 
trading  nations,  to  be  opened  only  on  the  basis  of  pref- 
erence in  some  form  or  another.  England,  America, 
and  Germany,  therefore,  had  every  selfish  inducement 
to  reform  and  perpetuate  rather  than  to  revolutionize 
the  existing  system,  not  only  of  Turkey  in  Asia  but  of 
Turkey  in  Europe.  If  the  worst  should  come  to  the 
worst,  as  was  thought  and  even  proposed,  trial  might 
be  made  in  Macedonia,  as  it  had  been  made  in  the 
Lebanon  and  Syria,  of  a  Turkish  governor  responsible 
to  the  powers  through  their  ambassadors  at  Constanti- 
nople. Of  course  this  would  have  been  the  assumption 
by  the  powers  of  almost  complete  responsibility,  but  it 
seemed  a  preferable  alternative  to  that  of  opening  the 
sluiceways  of  international  rivalry  among  the  Balkan 
States. 

These  states — Rumania,  Bulgaria,  Servia,  Greece, 
and  Montenegro — were,  as  has  been  remarked,  most  in- 
teresting political  specimens,  well  worth  a  careful  study 
as  instances  of  the  past  in  the  present,  of  peoples  work- 
ing out  in  the  twentieth  century  and  in  the  Orient  prob- 
lems almost  identical  with  those  which  occupied  the 
West  some  two  or  three  centuries  ago.  Neither  in- 
dividually nor  collectively  did  they  seem  ripe  to  as- 


HAMIDIAN  RULE  51 

sume  any  further  obligations  than  the  weighty  ones 
which  already  oppressed  them.  Their  primitive  con- 
ceptions of  finance  and  administration,  above  all  of 
international  relations — indeed,  even  their  rudimen- 
tary notions  of  what  a  state  and  a  nation  is — could  one 
and  all  be  enlarged  and  matured  only  by  experience. 
They  were  not  ready,  as  the  event  has  proved,  to  solve 
the  world  problem  of  Constantinople  and  determine 
the  destiny  of  the  Levant.  But  they  believed  them- 
selves to  be,  and  had  the  presumption  to  make  the 
effort.  Their  failure  was  due  to  their  imperfect,  al- 
most rudimentary,  development,  as  can  be  understood 
only  by  the  patient  consideration  of  their  evolution. 


Ill 

THE  BALKAN  PEOPLES 


53 


Ill 


THE   BALKAN   PEOPLES 


Of  prehistoric  man  in  the  Balkan  peninsula,  little  is  (i)  Historical 
known  except  from  a  few  excavations,  which  make  us  Survey 
familiar  with  his  rude  buildings,  his  graves,  his  orna- 
ments, and  some  utensils  that  have  withstood  the 
ravages  of  perhaps  thirty-five  centuries.  The  dawn  of 
history  reveals  the  Illyrians  on  the  Adriatic,  the  Thra- 
cians  to  the  eastward  south  of  the  Danube,  and  the 
Scythians  north  of  that  river. 

If,  as  is  held,  the  primitive  peoples  were  round-  The 
headed  and  of  the  Mediterranean  type,  the  Thracians,  Thracians 
of  whom  we  have  portraits  in  relief  carved  in  stone, 
were  of  the  North-European  type.  Their  headdress, 
body  garments,  and  trousers  were  elaborate  in  fold  and 
design,  the  legs  being  clad  either  in  wide,  flowing  panta- 
loons that  hung  in  carefully  arranged  creases,  or  else 
in  tight-fitting  garments,  equally  elaborate  in  creasing 
and  giving  the  effect  of  the  leggings  familiar  to  us  as 
puttees.  The  garb  of  the  Rumanian  and  some  of  the 
Servian  peasants  to-day  is  but  a  slight  modification  of 
the  Thracian  clothing  combined  with  the  Roman  tunic. 
The  ancient  and  modern  footgear  are  identical,  a  sort 
of  laced  moccasin,  styled,  in  'the  Slavic  tongue,  opan- 
kas.  The  elaborate  Thracian  hair-dressing  also  sur- 
vives. Among  the  Thracian  stocks  were  the  Trojans, 
Dacians,  and  Getians,  the  Phrygians,  Moesians,  and 
Lydians.  They  were  a  numerous  and  mighty  people, 
penetrating  the  Balkans  as  far  as  Boeotia  and  Attica, 
whence  they  were  expelled  by  the  Ionians. 

55 


56 


THE  BALKANS 


The  The  word  "Scythians"  is  frequently  used  to  desig- 

Scythians  nate  those  Mongolians  who  overran  northern  India, 

but  the  great  and  powerful  people  here  under  consid- 
eration were,  like  the  Thracians,  a  North-European 
stock  who  came,  according  to  the  latest  indications, 
from  the  Baltic.  They  were  a  fair-skinned,  blue-eyed, 
blonde-haired  race,  which,  driven  from  its  seats  by  the 
advancing  Germans,  moved  southward  into  the  heart 
of  Europe  and  thence  southeastward,  coming  into  con- 
tact with  the  Thracians  at  many  points.  Their  cloth- 
ing consisted  of  tunic,  trousers,  and  shoes  somewhat 
like  those  described  but  widely  different  in  important 
respects,  as  can  be  seen  from  the  monuments.  They 
carried  bow,  sword,  and  lance,  were  daring  horsemen, 
steed  and  rider  being  sometimes  incased  in  rough 
armor.  Of  their  many  stems  the  Parthians  seem  to 
have  been  the  most  important.  They  were  not  akin  to 
either  Finns  or  Turks.  As  they  are  portrayed  in  sculp- 
ture, and  from  the  remains  found  in  their  excavated 
graves,  they  were  clearly  a  northern  folk.  Experts  de- 
clare their  customs  to  have  resembled  those  of  ancient 
Germans,  including  the  blood-covenant,  the  deification 
and  worship  of  the  war-god  in  the  form  of  a  sword, 
the  sacrifice  of  horses,  the  drinking  from  skulls,  and 
the  use  of  twigs  and  beef-collops  in  augury.  Similar, 
also,  was  their  savagery  in  battle. 
The  Of  the  third  and  possibly  most  important  immigrant 

Illyrians  stock,  the  Ulyrians,  much  less  is  known.     They  were 

Indo-European,  they  came  from  the  north,  and  they 
completely  occupied  what  to-day  is  Servia,  Croatia, 
Dalmatia,  and  northern  Italy.  Many  contend  that 
they  partially  settled  the  entire  Balkan  peninsula,  but 
there  is  no  proof.  The  names  of  about  a  dozen  Illyrian 
tribes  occur  in  classical  literature,  the  Venetians,  Iapy- 


THE  BALKAN  PEOPLES  57 

gians,  and  Liburnians  being  the  most  important. 
Their  southward  movement  appears  to  have  been 
arrested  by  the  fact  that  the  southern  end  of  the  pen- 
insula was  already  occupied  by  an  earlier  people,  the 
Hellenes  or  Greeks. 

This  earliest  traceable  immigration  of  settlers  into  Early 
the  Balkan  peninsula  occurred  probably  about  three  Immigration 
thousand  years  before  our  era.  The  immigrants,  we 
repeat,  were  of  Aryan  or  Indo-European  stock,  de- 
scendants of  Japhet.  They  came  from  the  north  and 
occupied,  more  or  less  completely,  what  we  call  to-day 
Transylvania,  Rumania,  and  the  entire  country  south 
of  the  line  drawn  from  the  head  of  the  Adriatic  east- 
ward to  the  mouths  of  the  Danube.  Crossing  the  Bos- 
porus, they  spread  over  much  of  Asia  Minor  likewise. 
As  classical  antiquity  knew  them,  Thracians,  Scy- 
thians, Illyrians,  Epirotes,  Trojans,  Phrygians,  My- 
sians,  Paphlagonians,  and  Armenians,  one  and  all  they 
were  so  split  into  clans  and  tribes  that  they  never 
formed  a  national  unity,  as  this  word  is  now  under- 
stood, nor  played  a  role  in  history. 

The  Persians  overran  the  lands  of  all  these  stocks  The  Era  of 
as  far  as  Adrianople  in  the  valley  of  the  Maritza ;  the  Chieftains 
Athenians  compelled  their  obedience  in  spite  of  stub- 
born resistance  and  guerilla  warfare,  at  least  on  the 
shore  lands  where  fleets  could  operate.  During  the 
fifth  century  before  Christ  there  was  established  and 
maintained  by  a  series  of  powerful  chieftains  a  gov- 
ernment which  reduced  to  subjection  its  neighboring 
kinsfolk,  who  were  tribes  of  rude  hunters,  living  by 
rapine  and  plunder,  compelled  their  obedience,  and 
enforced  primitive  law.  This  was  the  dynasty  of  the 
Odryses ;  its  seat  was  the  Maritza  valley  and  its  most 
powerful  monarch  was  King  Teres.    The  dynasty  was 


58  THE  BALKANS 

overthrown  in  B.  C.  383  by  a  clan  chieftain  of  the  same 
blood,  known  as  Kotys.  At  his  hands  the  Athenians 
suffered  repeated  defeats.  The  day  of  his  dynasty  was 
short,  and  tribal  rivalries  overthrew  what  semblance  of 
government  there  was. 

Then  appeared  on  the  scene  another  conqueror,  who, 
like  his  predecessors  and  contemporaries,  had  founded 
a  kingship,  but  further  south  in  Macedonia,  where  the 
dynasty  of  Macedon,  so  eminent  in  history,  had  been 
established.  This  was  Philip  II.  His  will  was  so 
strong  and  his  discipline  so  severe  that  troops  of  the 
Thracian-Illyrian  stock  proved  invaluable  to  his  de- 
scendant, Alexander  the  Great,  the  world-conqueror  of 
the  epoch.  This  strange  youth,  possessing  alike  all  the 
primitive  virtues  and  all  the  primitive  vices  of  his  race, 
their  zeal,  their  faith,  and  their  energy  on  the  one  hand, 
their  self-indulgence,  their  fury,  and  their  recklessness 
on  the  other,  this  commanding  genius  was  by  the  intel- 
lectual training  of  Aristotle  so  imbued  with  Greek 
culture  that  his  military  triumphs  carried  a  high  Hel- 
lenic civilization  into  all  the  lands  which  came  under 
his  sway. 

When  the  master  died  and  his  generals  established 
themselves  as  kings  in  various  parts  of  his  empire,  the 
upper  Balkan  peoples  threw  off  all  restraint,  reverted 
to  their  original  clan  system,  and  so  weakened  them- 
selves and  their  resources  that  when,  a  century  later, 
the  Celts  appeared  in  what  are  now  Bosnia  and  the 
Herzegovina,  no  effectual  resistance  to  the  new  Aryan 
invaders  could  be  made.  Many  of  the  earlier  settlers 
fled  before  them  and  founded  south  of  the  Narenta  a 
government  of  some  stability ;  the  rest  were  oppressed 
almost  to  annihilation. 

But  the  lordship  of  the  Celts  was  brief,  for,  after 


THE  BALKAN  PEOPLES  59 

the  second  Punic  War,  Roman  legions  appeared  on  the  Coming  of 
scene.  The  process  of  conquest  was  hard  and  weary,  the  Romans 
Finally  in  B.  C.  167  King  Genthios,  who  ruled  south  of 
the  Narenta,  was  defeated  and  captured.  A  loose  con- 
federacy of  the  clans,  dwelling  north  of  that  river  and 
known  as  Dalmatians,  had  been  formed  to  repel  the 
Romans  and  proved  to  be  an  even  more  stubborn  foe ; 
it  was  not  until  B.  C.  187  that  the  resistance  of  these 
tribes  was  overcome  by  L.  Scipio,  the  propraetor  of 
Illyria,  and  their  lands  incorporated  into  the  Roman 
province  of  that  name.  The  resistance  of  the  Pan- 
nonians  and  Dalmatians  was  not  entirely  crushed  until 
some  six  years  after  our  era.  Simultaneously,  Lucullus 
and  Crassus  had  overrun  the  eastern  stock  and  com- 
bined the  lands  between  the  Danube,  the  Balkan 
Mountains,  and  the  Black  Sea  into  the  province  of 
Moesia.  The  Roman  conquerors  at  both  extremities 
of  the  peninsula,  keenly  alive  to  the  importance  of 
easy  transportation,  kept  persistently  building  their 
famous  military  and  commercial  highways;  they  like- 
wise taught  the  peoples  how  to  wrest  wealth  from 
their  fields  and  mines,  and  how  to  enjoy  it  by  the 
adoption  of  Roman  manners  and  culture. 

The  Greeks  lost  their  political  independence  when  in   Interweaving 
B.  C.  146  Mummius  conquered  Corinth.    Their  politi-   of  Greek  and 
cal  activities  were  not  in  the  least  diminished  by  that   R°man 
fact.     Their  country  became  the  base  of  operations 
alike  for  the  tremendous  struggles  of  Rome   in  the 
conquest  of  the  Orient,  as  well  as  for  the  civil  wars 
which  masked  the  death  throes  of  the  Roman  common- 
wealth and  the  rise  of  the  Roman  empire.     The  in- 
fluence of  Greece  had  been  great  throughout  the  period 
of  the  republic;  in  politics,  literature,  and  all  the  arts 
of  refined  living  she  gained  and  retained  the  mastery. 


60  THE  BALKANS 

Her  pupil  was,  however,  prominent  in  war,  in  jurispru- 
dence, and  in  administration — and  that  to  the  last.  But 
in  the  theory,  art,  and  practice  of  both  social  and 
political  life  Rome  was  Hellenized,  to  the  menace 
of  all  the  severe  and  primitive  Roman  qualities  which 
had  made  her  supreme. 

After  the  battle  of  Actium,  Greece  was  incorporated 
into  the  empire  as  the  province  of  Achaia.  Her  soil 
had  been  ravaged  by  the  perpetual  warfare  of  a  cen- 
tury; her  population,  unable  to  support  itself  by 
agriculture,  flocked  to  the  towns  in  immense  numbers 
to  seek  and  find  employment,  while  the  impoverished 
few  who  remained  on  the  land  became  a  tenant 
peasantry.  It  was  an  age  of  elegant,  luxurious  living; 
the  townsfolk  throve  on  the  industries  contributing 
to  such  an  existence;  those  in  whose  hands  great 
country  estates  had  accumulated  spent  little  time  at 
home,  and  the  countryfolk  steadily  degenerated  into 
rude  drudges  and  boors  under  the  exactions  of  hire- 
ling managers.  The  coast  towns  and  some  of  the 
inland  cities  cultivated  the  applied  arts  in  manufac- 
tures, exporting  exquisite  products  into  all  lands ;  and 
their  Roman  masters  used  every  effort  to  promote  such 
a  commerce. 

It  was  in  the  cities  that  the  political  instincts  of  the 
Greeks  still  found  room  for  activity,  and  by  the  means 
above  indicated  they  retained  their  leadership  in 
thought  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  eastern  frontiers  of 
Roman  power.  The  university  at  Athens  surpassed 
in  brilliancy  those  of  Rome,  Alexandria,  and  Mar- 
seilles, attracting  students  from  all  parts  of  the  empire. 
The  conquerors  were  at  first  disposed  to  severity  of 
rule  and  ruthlessly  exploited  the  Greek  sources  of 
wealth  for  themselves.     In  time,  however,  the  closer 


THE  BALKAN  PEOPLES  61 

interchange  of  relations  created  a  better  understanding 
and  induced  a  milder  administration.  Society  grew 
more  dignified  under  Roman  influences,  family  life 
purer;  and  Christianity  established  woman  in  a  po- 
sition of  responsibility  where  she  could  exert  her  grace 
and  charm  without  licentiousness.  By  the  third 
century  of  our  era,  the  Greek  passion  for  beauty  and 
for  science  had  spread  far  and  near  into  the  primitive 
lands  of  the  east.  Caracalla  gave  Roman  citizenship 
to  all  the  freemen  of  the  empire,  thus  diminishing  its 
value,  to  be  sure,  but  nevertheless  creating  a  certain 
unity  of  culture  thereby.  And  finally,  when,  with  the 
inroads  of  barbarous  peoples,  Italy  ceased  to  be  para- 
mount in  influence,  Rome  being  absorbed  in  the  strug- 
gle for  self-preservation,  the  rise  of  Byzantium  se- 
cured an  almost  complete  ascendancy  for  Greece  in  the 
eastern  portions  of  the  civilized  world.  What  the 
eminent  emperors  in  Rome,  Hadrian,  Antonius  Pius, 
and  Marcus  Aurelius,  had  begun,  namely,  the  further- 
ance of  literature  and  the  fine  arts  by  imperial  support, 
was  continued  by  those  who  ruled  at  Constantinople  as 
a  matter  of  course,  as  a  part  of  their  official  prerogative 
and  duty.  This  action  was  so  progressive  and  efficient 
that  at  last  Athens  was  forced  to  yield  her  palm  of 
leadership  in  culture  to  the  city  on  the  Bosporus. 

While  the  southern  portions  of  Eastern  Europe  Rome  in 
were  thus  more  or  less  completely  Hellenized  by  the  North  Europe 
intellectual  power  of  Athens  and  Byzantium,  the  case 
was  far  different  in  the  northern  ones.  As  has  been 
seen  in  another  connection,  there  is  a  wide  divergence 
of  opinion  as  to  the  ethnic  character  of  the  people 
known  to-day  as  Rumanians.  The  name  indicates  to 
those  who  bear  it  a  Roman  descent,  as  the  language 
they  speak  is  unquestionably  of  Roman  origin  in  its 


62  THE  BALKANS 

essential  quality.  To  the  contention  of  Latin  birth, 
neither  history  nor  anthropology  gives  decisive  sup- 
port; quite  the  contrary.  The  so-called  historic  evi- 
dence is  altogether  indirect,  and  amounts  to  a  claim 
that  in  a  period  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  years,  sparse 
Roman  settlers,  whose  very  existence  is  doubtful,  mod- 
ified the  native  population  so  far  as  to  create  a  new 
race.  Anthropology  is  as  helpless  as  history.  In  Mol- 
davia the  majority  are  short-headed,  in  Wallachia,  the 
reverse;  in  both  the  majority  have  clear-cut  features, 
yet  many  are  Roman-nosed,  while  quite  as  many  have 
noses  and  lips  of  the  Mongolian  type.  The  mass  have 
brown  hair,  but  a  quarter  of  them  black;  three  per  cent 
are  blonde,  two  per  cent  red-haired.  The  brows  of  all 
are  broad,  and  their  eye-cavities  large;  three  quarters 
are  dark-eyed.  Among  the  other  quarter  the  eyes  are 
gray,  with  here  and  there  blue  ones.  Such  indications 
afford  no  satisfactory  solution.  But  that,  antecedent 
to  the  third  century  of  our  era,  Roman  influence  was 
there  paramount  admits  of  no  question.  The  west 
Thracians  were  as  thoroughly  Romanized  as  those  to 
the  east  were  Hellenized.  Dacia  had  cultivated  the 
Roman  style  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  influences; 
from  among  Trajan's  legionaries  who  annihilated  the 
power  of  King  Decibalus,  and  his  later  Roman  colo- 
nists there  may  have  survived  powerful  leaders.  In  any 
case  there  was  a  combination  of  all  the  elements  into 
a  new  people,  using  a  language  molded  into  Roman 
form;  this  tongue,  still  spoken,  is,  however,  now 
blended  with  a  substantial  intermixture  of  Slavic, 
Turkish,  and  Persian  forms,  words,  and  expressions. 
The  Rumanians  have  even  borrowed  words  and  ex- 
pressions from  the  Magyars,  the  Albanians,  and  the 
Russians.     The  use  of  such  a  tongue  no  more  proves 


THE  BALKAN  PEOPLES  63 

the  Latin  descent  of  the  users  than  that  of  English 
by  the  various  elements  of  the  United  States  indi- 
cates the  Anglo-Saxon  descent  of  them  all. 

After  Trajan's  death  these  semi-Romanized  Thra- 
cians  could  no  longer  be  held  in  subjection ;  during  his 
short  reign  of  three  years,  Maximin,  himself  a  Thra- 
cian  who  had  risen  from  the  ranks  to  the  purple,  main- 
tained a  semblance  of  order  among  his  kinsfolk,  but  to 
the  natural  restlessness  of  the  people  was  now  added  a 
new  cause  of  disturbance.  The  Goths  had  settled  on 
the  northern  shore  of  the  Euxine,  the  Vandals  had 
boldly  entered  the  province,  and  from  the  great  plains 
further  beyond  was  pouring  out  a  flood  of  humanity 
which  pressed  hard  upon  both  from  behind,  breaking 
through  in  places  and  emptying  itself  into  the  valley  of 
the  Danube.  Hadrian  was  forced  (270-275)  to  with- 
draw his  troops  to  the  right  bank  of  that  great  river 
and  rename  the  province  Ripuarian  Dacia.  The  left 
shore  to  the  north  was  thus  lost  to  the  empire,  but 
some  of  the  Romans  and  much  of  the  Romanized  popu- 
lation continued  to  dwell  there.  These  and  the  traders 
kept  the  prevalent  low  Latin  a  living  tongue.  About 
the  year  450  the  Huns,  and  a  century  later  the  Avars, 
permeated  the  land,  until  finally  there  was  a  mechanical 
mixture  of  races,  peoples,  and  tongues  in  which  the 
old  order  was  utterly  disintegrated  and  the  way  pre- 
pared for  the  latest  inundation,  that  of  the  Slavs, 
whose  very  name,  Slave,  indicates  the  contempt  in 
which  they  were  long  held. 

That  descendants  of  Thracians,  Scythians,  and  Illy- 
rians,  of  Greeks  and  Romans  too,  still  survive  in  the 
Balkan  peninsula  no  one  doubts.  How  numerous,  how 
free  from  miscegenation  with  later  immigrant  peo- 
ples  is,  of  course,  a  question  still  to  be   answered, 


64  THE  BALKANS 

if  at  all,  bv  anthropological  and  linguistic  studies  more 
thorough  than  any  hitherto  undertaken.  At  present 
there  is  the  widest  difference  in  hypotheses  and  de- 
ductions, as  numerous,  fleeting,  and  unsubstantial  as 
moths  flitting  around  a  candle.  For  example,  the 
ancient  Greeks  believed  that  a  fabulous  people  whom 
i hey  styled  Pelasgians  had  preceded  them  in  their 
homes,  but  had  been  driven  back  into  the  northwestern 
snow-capped  mountains.  Accordingly,  there  is  some 
tine  writing  to-day  about  surviving  direct  descendants 
of  the  Pelasgians.  There  is  no  credulity  like  that  of 
the  inchoate,  undeveloped,  self-styled  historical  litera- 
ture produced  within  thirty  years  by  writers  from  or  in 
the  Balkan  States. 
The  Visigoth  Slowly  the  great  horde  of  Goths  on  the  north  shore 

Migration  ,f  me  Euxine  had  differentiated  itself  into  two  stocks, 

somewhat  different  in  character  and  widely  different 
in  their  historical  career:  the  west,  or  Visigoths,  and 
the  east,  or  Ostrogoths.  The  next  important  migration 
into  the  Balkan  peninsula  was  that  of  the  Visigoths 
under  Alaric,  who  actually  settled  in  the  central  por- 
tion of  it  in  382,  in  395  threatened  Constanti- 
nople and  pressed  on  into  Epirus  and  Hellas.  It 
is  to  the  ruthless  occupation  of  the  mainland  by  bar- 
barians that  the  islands  of  Hellas  owe  to  this  day  their 
almost  homogeneous  Greek  population,  descendants  of 
the  Greeks  who  nearly  fourteen  centuries  ago  fled  be- 
fore this  Germanic  invasion.  In  time  the  invaders 
were  more  or  less  Hellenized  and  established  them- 
selves in  Epirus  as  vassals  of  the  emperors  at 
Constantinople.  Restless  and  uncertain  as  was  their 
temperament,  they  soon  began  to  fear  lest  they  should 
be  further  absorbed  into  Byzantium,  and  at  last  with- 
drew  across   the  Adriatic    to   their  kindred    in    Italv. 


THE  BALKAN  PEOPLES  65 

During  the  period  of  their  settlement  in  that  peninsula 
they  destroyed  the  art  treasures  of  the  country  most 
ruthlessly,  and  the  process  which  they  began  was  con- 
tinued by  the  Huns,  who  poured  their  Mongolian  flood 
along  the  same  highway  of  nations.  These  in  turn  were 
followed  by  the  Ostrogoths  under  Theodoric,  who  laid 
waste  the  Peloponnesus,  and  by  the  Vandals,  who 
perpetrated  every  form  of  theft  and  destruction  along 
the  Greek  coast  line ;  whatever  was  left  after  this  de- 
vastating process  substantially  disappeared  under  the 
rule  of  the  Bulgars,  who  in  517  ravaged  Epirus  and 
Thessaly  as  far  as  Thermopylae. 

The  Byzantine  emperor  Anastasius  sought  to  pro- 
tect his  capital  behind  the  wall  stretching  from  Pro- 
pontis  to  the  Euxine,  a  line  of  defense  so  often  men- 
tioned in  this  latest  period,  and  abandoned  all  his  un- 
happy provinces  to  their  fate.  He  and  his  successor, 
Justin,  were  utterly  paralyzed  when  the  Slavs,  abiding 
their  time  on  the  south  shore  of  the  Danube,  began  a 
further  advance  and  established  many  permanent  col- 
onies in  the  districts  deserted  by  their  former  inhabi- 
tants. Justinian,  however  (527-565),  was  a  man  of 
different  temper,  and  while  he  left  the  Slavic  colonists 
already  established  in  their  new  seats,  yet  he  inaugu- 
rated a  system  of  fortifications  on  the  Danube  and  in 
the  interior  of  his  empire  which  checked  any  further 
inroads. 

The  last  quarter  of  the  sixth  century  is  marked  by  The  Avar 
the  further  invasion  of  the  peninsula  by  the  Avars,  a  Invasion 
people  of  extremely  warlike  nature.  Coming  from 
their  previous  home  between  the  Caspian  and  the  Sea 
of  Azov,  they  had  occupied  the  valley  of  the  Theiss, 
whence  for  two  and  a  half  centuries  they  terrorized 
all  their  neighbors.    They  now  pushed  forward  into  the 


66  THE  BALKANS 

east  Roman  empire  and  found  their  advantage  some- 
times in  supporting  the  emperor,  sometimes  in 
strengthening  the  Slavic  invasion.  They,  too.  succeeded 
in  establishing  settlements  at  various  places  in  Greece, 
but,  in  the  main,  the  result  of  all  this  confusion  was 
the  greater  and  greater  preponderance  of  the  Slav  ele- 
ment. At  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century  there 
were  more  Avars  to  the  north  of  the  Danube  than 
beyond  it,  and  more  Slavs  to  the  south  than  on  the 
other  side. 

The  Slavs  Pliny,  in  the  first  century  of  our  era,  makes  mention 

of  the  Slavs,  and  in  their  legendary  lore  the  emperor 
Trajan  occupies  so  important  a  position  that  many 
have  thought  there  must  have  been  some  contact  of  a 
peaceful  nature  between  him  and  the  Slavic  tribes. 
Inasmuch  as  Slavic  folklore  expresses  nothing  but 
kindness  and  admiration  for  the  Roman  powers, 
which  were  afterwards  their  bitterest  enemies,  their 
kindly  relations  may  have  continued  to  the  end  of 
the  fourth  century.  Traces  of  prehistorical  Slav  mi- 
grations and  settlements  have  been  found  clear  across 
Europe  as  far  as  Hanover,  but  the  Germans  forced 
them  back  over  the  Elbe.  Their  primitive  seat  appears 
to  have  been  the  banks  of  the  Dnieper  River  in  what 
is  known  to-day  as  southern  Russia.  A  prevailing 
hypothesis  makes  them  descendants  of,  or  close  kin  to, 
the  Scythians,  but  so  commingled  with  the  race  stocks 
just  mentioned  that  they  appear  to  be  a  composite  race. 

The  Bulgars  The  Bulgars,  whose  seats  had  been  on  the  lower 

Volea,  were  nearest  in  kin  to  the  Turks.  From  the 
time  of  their  earliest  appearance  they,  too,  assimilated 
themselves,  and  very  closely,  with  the  nomads  about 
them,  and  it  was  Bulgarized  Slavs  who  founded  the 
empire  which  included  the  lands  of  the  Danube,  Wal- 


THE  BALKAN  PEOPLES  67 

lachia,  with  a  part  of  Hungary,  as  well  as  their  own 
territory — a  mighty  empire  which  lasted  for  over  three 
centuries  (702-1014).  During  their  ascendancy  three 
peoples  of  unknown  descent — the  Hungarians,  a 
Ugrian-Turcoman  folk  from  Asia,  and  two  Turkish 
stocks,  the  Patzinakians  and  the  Cumanians — entered 
the  districts  north  of  the  Danube.  It  was  into  the  very 
heart  of  the  vast  Slavic  territory  that  the  Hungarians 
drove  themselves  like  a  wedge;  and  for  generations  the 
northern  and  southern  groups  lived  in  different  en- 
vironments and  under  different  conditions — a  fact 
which  created  and  perpetuated  substantial  variations. 
In  type,  language,  and  even  in  basic  institutions  they 
are  perhaps  as  much  differentiated  as  the  Spanish  from 
the  Portuguese,  much  less  than  the  Italians  and  Span- 
ish or  any  other  two  of  the  Romance  peoples.  It  was 
the  south  Slavs  who  were  first  discernible  in  the  Bal- 
kans during  the  sixth  century.  In  the  seventh  they 
began  to  settle  westward  of  the  Bulgarians,  occupying 
the  Roman  province  of  Moesia,  and  it  was  there  that 
they  first  received  the  contemptuous  name  which  they 
still  bear,  that  of  Servians,  Slaves.  In  the  eighth  cen- 
tury they  accepted  Christianity,  and  thence,  down  to 
the  eleventh  century  they  were  at  best  a  protectorate, 
and  more  often  a  dependency  of  Byzantium.  There- 
upon, separate  stocks  began  successively  and  success- 
fully to  assert  independence,  and  in  1165  they  were 
united  under  a  dynasty  which  in  1222  was  recognized 
by  both  the  Pope  and  by  the  emperor  of  Constanti- 
nople. They  developed  a  civilization  which  was  quite 
remarkable;  and  under  the  Czar  Stephen  Dushan 
(1330-1335)  the  empire  embraced,  in  addition  to  its 
original  domains,  Macedonia,  Albania,  Thessaly,  Bul- 
garia, and  northern  Greece.     This  great  Servian  con- 


68 


THE  BALKANS 


(2)  Racial 
Characteris- 
tics 

Turk 


queror  reached  the  very  gates  of  Constantinople  with 
a  summons  to  surrender,  but  there  he  died;  and  his 
lands,  united  only  by  his  imperious  will,  fell  apart,  a 
prey  to  warring  ambitions.  It  was  in  1453  that  Ma- 
homet II,  the  great  Osman  Turk,  mentioned  in 
another  connection,  after  capturing  Constantinople, 
marched  onward  with  his  invincible  horde  and  soon 
brought  all  the  Balkans  under  Turkish  sway,  a  grind- 
ing tyranny  that  lasted  nearly  four  centuries. 

With  the  appearance  in  the  Balkan  peninsula  of  the 
Turks,  an  outline  of  whose  career  has  already  been 
given,  the  long  roll-call  of  national  and  race  elements 
in  that  distracted  portion  of  Europe  is  completed.  Not 
one  of  these  elements  has  remained  entirely  pure.  Of 
those  considered,  four  have  admitted  alien  strains,  and 
the  same  is  true  of  their  languages  and  institutions  ;  yet 
all  survive,  and  all  hold  fast  to  their  traditions,  and  all 
look  forward  to  the  restoration  of  their  ancient  domin- 
ion and  glory.  The  situation  is  complicated  by  the 
strife  of  confession;  Islam  with  Christianity — alas!  a 
divided  Christianity — the  adherents  of  the  Greek- 
Church,  at  least  among  the  masses,  regarding  those  of 
the  Roman  confession  as  utter  outcasts,  and  vice  versa. 
Both  churches  are  overlaid  with  superstitions,  and  with 
intolerance,  with  dogmatic  and  ritualistic  corruptions; 
but  the  only  wonder  is  that  after  so  many  centuries 
of  oppression,  abuse,  and  degradation  the  common  folk 
are  not  worse  than  they  are. 

Briefly  to  characterize  these  variegated  stocks  is  dif- 
ficult, but  a  few  indications  may  be  given,  The  Turk 
is  of  middle  stature,  strongly  Asiatic  in  type,  and  dis- 
posed to  obesity.  In  character  he  is  serious,  courteous, 
hospitable,  and  brave,  but  fanatical  to  the  verge  of 
brutality.     His  ethnic  composition  is  fairly  displayed 


THE  BALKAN  PEOPLES  69 

in  the  ingredients  of  his  speech,  the  original  forms  and 
vocabulary  of  which  are  overlaid  with  a  mixture  of 
Slavic,  Greek,  Romanic,  Spanish,  Persian,  and  Arabic 
elements.  These  last  two  predominate,  especially  in 
the  scanty  literature  of  the  language. 

The  Slavs  of  the  peninsula  are  generally  designated  Slav 
as  Serbo-Croats.  They  number  at  least  nine  millions. 
They  are  a  powerful  race,  tall  and  yet  sturdy,  with 
heads  so  domelike  and  short  as  to  attract  the  attention 
of  the  most  casual  observer.  The  Servians  are  Greek 
Catholics  and  use  the  Cyrillic  alphabet.  The  Croats 
are  almost  exclusively  Roman  Catholics.  Almost  all 
of  the  so-called  Turks  of  Bosnia  and  the  Herzegovina 
are  Mohammedan  Slavs.  The  districts  of  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  monarchy  known  as  Croatia,  Carniola, 
Bosnia,  the  Herzegovina,  Dalmatia,  Slavonia,  and 
Istria  are  peopled  almost  exclusively  by  Serbo-Croats, 
and  there  are  many  of  them  in  Hungary,  as  well  as 
in  both  Trieste  and  Fiume.  Servia  proper  is,  of  course, 
almost  exclusively  theirs,  as  too  is  little  Montenegro, 
and  there  are  likewise  many  in  Bulgaria  and  even  in 
Rumania,  in  Macedonia,  and  in  Albania.  While  they 
vary  widely  in  religion,  in  costume,  and  to  a  certain 
extent  in  habits,  they  speak  the  same  language  and  are 
indisputably  homogeneous  in  race.  Their  language  is 
relatively  pure,  purer  than  their  original  mixed  blood. 

Ages  of  oppression  did  not  leave  the  Servian  charac-  Servian 
ter  unharmed.  Those  who  professed  Islam,  in  terror, 
became  in  time  thorough  Moslems  and  so  remained. 
These  were  the  great  land-owners  who  constituted 
what  may  be,  with  reserve,  styled  the  aristocratic  class. 
They  retain,  as  they  firmly  believe,  the  native  virtues 
of  their  stock,  and  upon  these  they  have  engrafted 
those  which  spring  from  Moslem  morality.    The  great 


JO 


THE  BALKANS 


mass  of  the  peasantry,  true  to  its  Christian  faith,  but 
oppressed  by  the  taxation  which  approached  the  bound- 
ary of  confiscation,  slowly  became  secretive  and  finally 
tricky,  lazy,  and  untrustworthy.  Their  religion  could 
not  counteract  the  degradation  of  their  slavery,  and 
the  comparatively  short  period  of  their  emancipation 
has  not  yet  sufficed  to  put  them  into  even  the  middle 
rank  of  stalwart  manliness,  except  as  soldiers.  The 
life  of  Belgrade  is  in  many  respects  sadly  debased,  the 
Servians  proper  being  an  ignorant  peasantry  with  no 
leadership  from  an  upper  class,  and,  like  all  others 
in  their  condition,  more  receptive  to  the  vices  than  to 
the  virtues  of  Western  civilization. 

Montenegrin  The  Montenegrins  have  as  yet  come  little  in  con- 

tact with  modern  movements  and  shine,  therefore,  in 
the  possession  of  many  primitive  virtues.  The  Croa- 
tians  have  greatly  improved  under  the  Austro-Hun- 
garian  rule,  in  which  they  share;  and  the  Dalmatians, 
still  primitive  in  many  respects,  have  profited  much 
by  their  close  contact  with  the  refined  city  life  in  that 
row  of  beautiful  towns  which  were  once  the  ornament 
of  Venetia  and  still  retain  in  a  high  measure  the  refine- 
ment of  Italian  life.  For  the  most  part,  the  south  Slav, 
the  Serbo-Croat,  is  a  man  of  the  fields,  though  his 
women  do  more  of  the  burdensome  work  of  tillage 
than  elsewhere  in  the  world.  Few  are  devoted  to 
trade,  industry,  or  commerce,  but  these  few  seem  fairly 
successful.  Such  exploitation  of  the  great  mineral 
and  forest  wealth  in  their  country  as  there  is — it  is  as 
yet  inconsiderable — appears  to  be  in  the  hands  of 
foreigners,  who  obtain  concessions  with  difficulty  and 
are  not  over  secure  in  their  possession. 

Bulgarian  The  Bulgarians,  like  others  among  the  strata  of  the 

great  confused  ethnic  mass  accumulated  by  the  proc- 


THE  BALKAN  PEOPLES  71 

esses  just  described,  were  brought  into  the  fold  of  the 
Greek  Catholic  Church.  After  the  fall  of  Constanti- 
nople many  of  them  became  Mohammedans  and  are 
known  as  Pomaks,  but  the  proportion  was  smaller  than 
in  Bosnia  and  the  Herzegovina.  These  Pomaks  have 
not  yet  returned  to  the  Greek  communion ;  there  sur- 
vive also  many  real  Turks  who  may  emigrate  but  are 
not  likely  to  be  converted.1  Iteration  makes  impres- 
sion, and  it  cannot  be  too  often  repeated  that  in  im- 
portant times  and  circumstances  creed  has  determined 
nationality  to  the  exclusion  of  all  else.  It  does  so  still 
in  the  disdainful  Turkish  mind,  the  "millet,"  or  faith- 
unit,  being  likewise  a  Turkish  unit  of  administration. 
Thus  for  ages  the  Greek  Christians  were  considered 
both  an  ecclesiastical  and  a  political  unit.  The  Slavs, 
once  under  Turkish  rule,  held  in  abomination  such  a 
concept ;  they  have  been  the  intermediary  through 
which  the  antipodal  notion  has  prevailed  :  language  has 
been  associated  with  creed  as  the  test  of  nationality. 
Bulgaria  is  struggling  to  emphasize  slight  differences — 
differences  which  seem  negligible  to  curious  outsiders, 
such,  for  example,  as  the  place  of  the  article,  or  rather 
particle,  prefixed  or  suffixed,  or  the  use  of  Old  Slavic 
in  the  service  book  of  the  church,  or  the  designation 
of  an  ecclesiastical  overseer  as  Exarch  instead  of 
Patriarch;  not  only  struggling,  but  almost  exhausting 
itself  in  the  struggle  to  make  these  serve  as  a  sanction 
for  a  nationality  ambitious  to  control  the  Balkan  penin- 
sula. In  this,  the  un-Aryan,  central  Asiatic  origin  of 
the  people  reveals  itself;  the  tribal  concept  is  the  stirp 
which,  running  under  the  surface,  sends  up  hardy 
shoots  at  unexpected  intervals.  The  notion  of  a  nation- 

1  Some  estimates  place  the  Moslem  population  of  the  new  Bulgaria  as  high  as 
450,000.  The  patriots  hope  for  the  re-conversion  of  the  Pomaks.  who  are  full- 
blooded  Bulgarians;  more  dispassionate  observers  are  very  doubtful. 


72  THE  BALKANS 

ality,  based  on  both  language  and  creed,  Bulgaria  has 
observed  to  the  exclusion  of  every  other ;  Servia,  on  the 
other  hand,  emphasizes  blood  and  social  institutions 
as  the  basis  for  determining  nationality.  It  also  has  a 
national  church,  but  the  Servian  Church  recognizes  the 
patriarch  at  Constantinople  as  superior  to  its  own  hier- 
archical head,  while  the  Bulgarian  Church  stops  with 
its  own  exarch  and  knows  no  superior.  These  Vulga- 
rians, or  Bulgarians,  were  originally  an  Altaic  horde, 
who  overran  large  portions  of  the  Balkan  peninsula  as 
nomads  do,  but  were  driven  back  by  the  Bosnians, 
Servians,  Albanians,  and  Turks  into  the  districts  which 
their  descendants  occupy,  districts  then  settled  to  a 
considerable  extent  by  south  Slavs.  These  they  subju- 
gated ;  but,  as  so  often  occurs  when  a  lower  overcomes 
a  higher  civilization,  the  conquerors  adopted  the  reli- 
gion, manners,  and  speech  of  the  conquered.  They 
began  at  once  to  merge  with  the  earlier  people  and  so 
inaugurated  a  process  which  made  the  Bulgarian  of 
to-day  a  Greek  Catholic,  which  gave  him  a  pure  Slavic 
tongue  with  only  trifling  modifications.  The  Bulgarian 
can  assert  a  separate  nationality  only  in  his  history,  in 
slight  physical  traces  of  Altaic  origin  and  in  a  slender 
vocabulary  of  Altaic  words  now  embodied  in  the 
speech  of  the  country. 

The  Bulgarians  number  about  four  millions.  They 
occupy  Bulgaria  and  Eastern  Rumelia,  which  together 
until  the  outbreak  of  the  war  formed  their  kingdom; 
they  have  many  kinsfolk  in  Macedonia,  to  the  east  of 
Albania,  and  some  thousands  in  Rumania.  They  are 
of  medium  height  and  powerful  build ;  their  heads  are 
neither  short  nor  long,  but  of  a  middle  type  quite  their 
own,  and  they  have  oval  faces  with  rather  high  cheek 
bones.     In  the  northern  districts  a  few  of  them  exhibit 


THE  BALKAN  PEOPLES  73 

a  fairly  strong  Asiatic  type,  almost  Mongolian;  to  the 
southward  they  are  more  and  more  purely  Slav.  Their 
character  is  very  unlike  that  of  the  Servians  and 
Rumanians.  Disposed  as  they  are  to  quick  surges  of 
passion  and  prompt  revenge,  they  are  also  intelligent, 
laborious,  and  thrifty.  Like  the  Servians,  they  are  a 
peasant  folk,  but  both  their  farming  and  gardening  are 
admirable,  which  cannot  be  said  of  the  Servians.  They 
cling  to  their  picturesque  garb,  and  the  women's  cos- 
tumes glow  with  rich  color  and  effective  though  coarse 
embroideries. 

Scattered  far  and  near  over  the  Balkans  is  a  very  Wallach 
enigmatical  folk.  They  are  irreclaimably  nomadic,  liv- 
ing mainly  by  the  produce  of  small  herds  of  goats  or 
sheep.  In  Macedonia,  Greece,  Servia,  and  Bulgaria 
their  little  bands  are  everywhere  found  on  the  moun- 
tainsides and  upland  pastures.  Investigators  have 
counted  twenty-two  different  designations  by  which 
they  are  known.  The  generally  accepted  name  in 
anthropology  is  that  of  Aromunes — goat  wanderers — 
but  they  are  most  widely  known  as  Vlachs  or  Wal- 
lachs,  sometimes  as  Kutzovlachs.  Six  hundred  years 
ago  they  were  exactly  as  they  are  to-day.  They  have 
not  advanced  a  single  step  toward  a  higher  civilization, 
having  neither  settled  habitations  nor  even  the  most 
primitive  agriculture.  In  the  countries  through  which 
they  wander  repeated  efforts  have  been  made  to  subdue 
their  vagabond  propensities,  and  at  wide  intervals  of 
time  and  space  a  small  proportion  has  been  established 
in  villages,  but  the  vast  majority  still  roam  as  before. 
Their  racial  unity  cannot  be  doubted.  In  the  first  place, 
they  have  a  physical  type  of  their  own;  middle  stature, 
round  faces,  coarse  but  regular  features,  straight  noses, 
large,  full  mouths,  brownish  yellow  skins  and,  for  the 


74  THE  BALKANS 

most  part,  black  hair.  The  women  are  most  unlovely 
and  are  careless  in  their  attire — flowing,  coarse  gar- 
ments of  skins  and  rough  woollen  stuff.  Though  cau- 
tious and  suspicious,  when  reassured  they  are  lively, 
good-natured,  and  hospitable.  Secondly,  they  all  speak 
the  same  language,  the  Rumanian.  They  speak  it,  of 
course,  with  variations,  and  these  extend  so  far  that  in 
Rumania,  Hungary,  the  Bukowina,  Russia,  and  some 
parts  of  Bulgaria  and  Carniola,  their  speech  is  called 
"Dacian  Rumanian";  in  Macedonia,  northern  Greece, 
Epirus,  Albania,  Servia,  Bosnia,  and  other  parts  of 
Bulgaria  it  is  styled  "Arumanian;"  in  Istria  and  round 
Fiume,  "Istrorumanian"  •  and  finally  to  the  north  of 
Salonica,  "Meglen." 

But  these  variations  do  not  prevent  the  intercourse  of 
all  the  stocks  with  each  other,  and  the  language,  though 
composite,  is  a  unit.  Its  three  basic  elements  are,  in 
the  order  of  importance:  Dacian,  Latin,  and  Bul- 
garian, with  a  very  considerable  intermixture  of 
Greek,  Turkish,  and  Hungarian.  Their  garb  is  sub- 
stantially identical,  too,  in  all  places,  and  utterly  differ- 
ent from  that  of  those  among  whom  they  mingle.  Both 
men  and  women  wear  woolen  jackets,  pelisses  of  fur 
or  skin,  embroidered  shirts  (those  of  the  males  short, 
of  the  females  long)  over  drawers  and  trousers,  with 
laced  sandals  of  leather,  and  leggings ;  the  headdress 
is  generally  a  fur  cap,  sometimes  peaked,  sometimes 
flat.  They  have  the  same  skill  as  had  the  ancient  Thra- 
cians  in  folds  and  plaits,  and  their  passion  for  color 
produces  a  revel  of  shrieking  contrasts.  Sometimes 
the  women  wear  felt  hats,  flat  or  tall,  sometimes  hoods 
with  ribbon  streamers,  or  again  no  headdress  at  all, 
in  which  case  their  hair  is  drawn  straight  back  and 
plaited.     They  are  still  a  prehistoric  folk,  living  like 


THE  BALKAN  PEOPLES  75 

Troglodytes,  using  hand  mills  and  clay  ovens.  They 
squat  in  sitting,  shake  the  head  in  affirmation,  and  nod 
in  negation. 

This  extraordinary  stock  is,  of  course,  most  numer- 
ous in  Rumania  itself,  the  kingdom  formed  from  the 
one-time  Turkish  provinces  of  Moldavia  and  Walla- 
chia  and  now  including  the  Dobrudja.  Within  this 
kingdom  and  in  Hungary  much  has  been  accomplished 
in  raising  the  living  standard  from  that  of  the  nomads 
who  dwell  without.  Village  life  has  been  established, 
a  firm  government  inaugurated,  education  regulated 
and  improved,  agriculture  introduced.  The  land  was 
from  immemorial  times  in  the  possession  of  feudal 
owners,  and  the  aristocratic  families  still  give  direction 
to  the  life  and  customs  of  the  peasantry.  For  the 
most  part  they  have  been  under  Russian  influence  for 
generations,  and  have  north  Slavic  blood  in  their  veins, 
as  well  as  north  Slavic  ideas  in  their  minds.  With 
great  pride  in  the  Roman  origin  which  they  claim, 
they  turned  after  their  emancipation  away  from  Rus- 
sian influence  and  the  Turkish  yoke  toward  French 
sources  of  culture.  The  refinements  of  French  life 
have  been  widely  introduced  among  them — in  some 
cases  and  in  certain  ways  to  the  advancement  of  a  real 
civilization,  in  other  ways  and  degrees  to  excesses  due 
to  moral  unripeness. 

The  Albanians !  This  extraordinary  folk  is  the  rid-  Albanian 
die,  the  puzzle,  the  mystery  of  both  science  and  politics 
in  southeasten  Europe.  They  populate  a  district  of 
most  uncertain  boundaries,  broadly  styled  Albania, 
almost  to  the  exclusion  of  any  other  race  element ; 
within  its  limits  Slavs  are  very  rare  and  Slavism  is 
detested.  Some  Albanians  are  Roman  Catholics  and 
despise  Greek  orthodoxy,  alike  that  of  the  Slavs  on 


76  THE  BALKANS 

their  borders  and  that  of  their  kinsfolk  in  Greece; 
many  more  are  Moslems  and  loathe  Christianity. 
There  are  north  Albanians  having  very  little  inter- 
course with  south  Albanians.  Within  the  uncertain 
boundaries  of  Albania  they  number  but  a  quarter  of  a 
million,  all  told ;  it  is  likely  that  there  are  ninety  thou- 
sand more  in  Greece,  Italy,  and  elsewhere.  In  matters 
social  and  political  they  appear  to  represent  a  develop- 
ment arrested  centuries  ago,  if  not  in  prehistoric  times. 
They  are  in  the  tribal  stage,  in  some  places  in  the 
patriarchal.  They  have  the  point  of  honor  developed 
to  the  verge  of  absurdity,  and  each  carries  on  his 
person  a  small  arsenal  of  arms  and  ammunition.  They 
shave  their  heads  close,  except  for  one  untonsured 
circle  on  the  crown;  here  is  left  the  traditional  hair 
plume  which  is  the  badge  of  their  nationality.  They 
wear  gaudy  and  embroidered  garments,  which  are 
often  neither  clean  nor  whole,  and  they  strut  the  earth 
like  lords.  They  have  been  called  the  armed  children 
of  Europe. 

Yet  they  are  admirable  as  tillers  of  the  soil,  obsti- 
nate in  the  defense  of  their  rights,  courageous  as  few 
others,  passionate  in  their  patriotism,  loyal  to  their 
chiefs,  and  hospitable  to  strangers  who  learn  and 
observe  their  ways.  They  are  of  middle  stature  and 
spare  frame,  lithe  and  active,  and  are  in  almost  equal 
proportion  blonde  and  brunette.  They  regard  them- 
selves as  one  people  because  they  have  one  territory  and 
one  language,  one  tradition,  and,  as  they  believe,  one 
origin.  The  Skumbi  River  divides  the  Ghegs  of  the 
north  from  the  Toscs  of  the  south;  and  though  the 
dialects  of  the  two  differ  so  widely  as  to  make  inter- 
course difficult,  yet  the  differences  are  those  of  forms 
and  expression,  not  of  grammar  and  vocabulary.    The 


THE  BALKAN  PEOPLES  77 

language  is  made  up  of  very  diverse  elements.  Of  the 
5,140  principal  words,  about  one  half  are  importations; 
1,420  are  Rumanian,  1,180  Turkish,  840  Greek,  and 
540  Slav ;  less  than  400  are  taken  to  be  of  ancient 
Illyrian  origin. 

The  name  "Albanian"  was  given  to  them  by  the 
ancient  Byzantines.  Their  designation  for  themselves 
is  "Skipitari" — the  eagle's  brood.  Among  the  Ghegs 
there  are  living  about  equal  numbers  of  Mohamme- 
dans and  Roman  Catholics,  but  the  former  are  the 
aristocracy,  haughty  and  exclusive,  living  like  Scottish 
clans  in  their  mountain  fastnesses.  The  Toscs,  on  the 
other  hand,  entertain  many  Greek  and  Vlach  settlers 
within  their  territory,  and  live  on  friendly  terms  with 
their  neighbors.  They  are  partly  Moslems,  partly 
Greek  Catholics.  The  Ghegs  have  furnished  the  two 
national  heroes:  Scander  Beg  (1467)  and  Prenk-Bib- 
Doda;  but  the  latter,  after  brilliant  feats  of  arms  as 
patriot,  was  drawn  into  the  service  of  the  Sultan  and 
lost  caste.  While  the  Ghegs  are  renowned  for  their 
independence  and  warlike  temper,  the  Toscs  have 
furnished  the  warrior  best  known  in  our  day  as  the 
Greek  hero,  Marco  Bozzaris,  who,  with  his  Suliote 
band,  did  noble  work  for  the  liberation  of  the  Greeks. 

The  generally  accepted  hypothesis  as  to  the  origin 
of  the  Albanians  is  that  when  the  Thracians  were 
driven  from  their  seats  they  migrated  westward,  com- 
mingled with  the  Illyrians  in  the  fastnesses  of  the 
Albanian  Alps,  an  inaccessible,  defensible  range  of 
majestic  snow-capped  peaks  and  narrow  vales,  where 
eventually  a  few  Goths  and  some  Serbo-Croats  gained 
admission,  and  that  the  resultant  of  all  these  elements 
is  the  persistent,  primitive,  obdurate  Albanian  people. 
Their  nearest  kin  are  to  be  found  in  certain  districts 


78  THE  BALKANS 

of  the  Herzegovina,  where  in  type,  garb,  and  character 
a  few  communities  strongly  resemble  the  Albanians. 
These  recognize  a  degree  of  relationship,  but  are  slowly 
being  absorbed  into  the  somewhat  higher  civilization 
arising  under  Austrian  rule. 

Although  there  are  three  confessed  religious 
authorities,  yet  the  Roman  Catholic  Albanians  notori- 
ously behave  as  they  please  without  reference  to  the 
Pope,  while  Greeks  and  Moslems  are  alike  indifferent 
to  Caliph  or  patriarch.  The  obedience  of  all  Alba- 
nians to  any  authority  is  dubious.  They  defied  the 
Congress  of  Berlin,  refusing  to  Servia  and  Monte- 
negro the  districts  and  towns  of  their  land  assigned 
by  that  august  body  to  those  states.  They  long  pre- 
ferred the  slack  reign  of  Turkish  rule  because  for 
them  that  rule  was  hardly  more  than  nominal.  Now 
and  then  an  army  from  Constantinople  would  best  them 
for  a  time,  but  they  were  restless  under  control  and 
made  trouble  when  not  left  to  themselves.  The  old 
Hamidian  regime  grossly  abused  its  little  power,  but  it 
was  so  feeble  that  it  dared  not  impinge  deeply  on  the 
tribal  self-government.  The  Young  Turks,  in  the  effort 
to  bring  Albania  into  their  constitutional  regime,  em- 
ployed military  force,  but  they  succeeded  only  in  ex- 
asperating the  clans,  especially  the  Mirdites  and  Malli- 
sores  of  north  Albania,  into  a  resistance  that  could  be 
broken  only  by  extermination. 

The  Albanians  are  superbly  built,  active  and  endur- 
ing, ready  alike  for  peace  or  for  war,  with  excellent 
qualities  of  heart  and  mind.  Roughly,  the  territory 
they  assert  as  their  own  corresponds  to  the  Epirus  of 
ancient  Greece.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  learning  and 
culture  have  made  no  greater  progress  in  this  province 
than  they  had  in  the  days  of  King  Pyrrhus.    So  hope- 


THE  BALKAN  PEOPLES  79 

less  was  the  effort  of  the  Young  Turks  that,  under  pres- 
sure from  the  Great  Powers,  the  Constantinople 
authorities  were  forced  to  abandon  their  scheme  of 
amalgamation.  The  wild  tribes  of  the  north  secured 
all  their  demands;  in  the  south  almost  equal  conces- 
sions were  made,  and  Albania  felt  itself  nearer  to  a 
united  and  half-sovereign  independence  than  ever  be- 
fore. The  bulwark  of  Turkey  against  Slav  encroach- 
ments was  thus  outwardly  maintained  up  to  the  out- 
break of  the  war,  but  only  by  the  reversal  of  the  widely 
heralded  policy  of  "Turkification." 

There  are  two  other  unorganized  elements  of  the  Gypsy  and 
Balkan  peninsula  which,  although  not  numerous  rela-  Jew 
tively,  are  actually  so  busy  and  pervasive  that  they  are 
everywhere  in  evidence.  The  Gypsies  are  tinkers  and 
metal  workers.  Generally,  they  are  nomadic,  but  in 
Servia,  Bosnia,  and  the  Dobrudja  there  are  numerous 
villages  in  which  they  regularly  dwell,  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  year  at  least.  Ragged,  unkempt,  filthy,  im- 
portunate, they  play  an  important  role  in  necessary 
occupations  which  the  natives  disdain.  Finally  there 
are  the  Jews,  almost  exclusively  of  the  Ashkenazi 
branch — peddlers,  shopkeepers,  money-lenders  or,  eu- 
phemistically, bankers.  They  are  sternly  orthodox  in 
their  inflexible  ritual  and  dogmatic  and  mysterious  in 
their  business  transactions.  For  the  most  part,  they 
speak  the  Yiddish  dialect  of  German  and  Hebrew,  a 
tongue  unfamiliar  to  those  among  whom  they  live. 
They  are  hated  and  feared;  and,  in  Rumania,  where 
they  are  very  numerous,  they  are  in  some  places  and  at 
some  times  savagely  persecuted.  The  superstitious,  ig- 
norant folk,  made  to  suffer  at  the  hands  of  the  Jews  for 
their  unthrift  and  recklessness  in  money  matters,  are 
easily  roused  to  fury.     In  Constantinople  and  in  Sa- 


80  THE  BALKANS 

lonica,  and  to  a  less  degree  in  rural  Macedonia,  there 
are  colonies  of  Sephardim,  or  Spanish-Portuguese  Is- 
raelites, whose  characteristics  are  entirely  different 
from  those  of  the  Ashkenazi,  and  who  generally  are 
respected,  often  admired,  by  those  among  whom  they 
live. 


IV 
I.  THE  BALKAN  NATIONS 


81 


IV 


I.      THE   BALKAN    NATIONS 


Purpose  of 
Chapter 


The  wild  world  of  to-day  is  not  Western  America, 
but  southeastern  Europe  and  the  confines  of  Asia.  It 
has,  we  trust,  been  made  sufficiently  clear  that  one  of 
the  causes  for  its  lamentable  backwardness  is  its  de- 
fective and  arrested  social  development,  which,  for  the 
most  part,  is  that  of  the  early  patriarchal  state.  Where 
it  appears  economically  more  advanced,  the  fact  may 
be  traced  to  a  benevolent  and  concealed  despotism,  or 
at  best  to  a  half  theocratic  clanship  or  tribal  form  of 
government  under  some  exceptional  leader.  The  pur- 
pose of  this  chapter  is  rapidly  and  somewhat  superfi- 
cially to  examine  the  nature  of  the  monarchies  that 
have  been  established  as  centers  of  order. 

It  is,  of  course,  a  platitude  that  in  this  vast  area  of  Environment 
territory,  utterly  unknown  to  the  majority  of  intel- 
ligent men  from  the  West,  physical  geography,  as 
elsewhere,  determines  to  a  high  degree  the  social  struc- 
ture of  the  inhabitants.  Nowhere  is  the  relation 
between  man  and  his  habitat  closer;  nowhere  is 
politics  more  sternly  conditioned  by  natural  resources 
and  climate.  If  there  is  ever  to  be  a  high  civilization 
in  the  Balkan  peninsula,  it  must,  for  this  reason,  be  of 
a  sort  unfamiliar  to  modern  Europeans,  not  as  yet 
dimly  apprehended  by  its  own  inhabitants,  and  de- 
manding for  generations  to  come  charitable  and  con- 
siderate treatment  from  those  enjoying  a  higher  civili- 
zation without;  a  patient,  parental  behavior  from  the 

83 


and 
Civilization 


84  THE  BALKANS 

native  statesmen  who  strive  to  guide  the  evolution 
from  within.  Before  the  onslaught  of  the  Allies  upon 
Turkey  there  was  perpetual  friction,  there  were  fre- 
quent clashes  with  those  who  claimed  authority,  and 
there  was  much  bloodshed.  While  elsewhere  there 
was  the  hush  of  armed  peace,  among  the  tribesmen  of 
Morocco  and  the  clansmen  of  the  Balkans  there  was 
the  babble  of  tongues,  the  shouting  of  captains,  the 
violence  of  barbarism,  the  menace  of  a  spreading  con- 
flagration, which  shocked  the  Western  world  as  an 
anachronism.  Warfare,  so  scientific  in  the  equilib- 
rium of  its  forces  elsewhere,  was  there  primitive  and 
brutal.  The  chaos,  it  was  widely  believed,  was  due  to 
the  inflaming  of  local  passions,  of  tribal  jealousy  by 
foreign  agents,  as  part  of  the  game  of  world  politics 
played  by  the  Western  powers. 
The  Play  of  To  what  extent  the  great  powers  are  responsible, 

Politics  only   history,   as  written  long  hence,   can   determine. 

For  instance,  we  are  to-day  fully  aware  of  the  three 
widely  different  policies  which  made  a  united  Italy. 
These  were  respectively  exemplified  in  the  work  of 
Mazzini,  Cavour,  and  Garibaldi,  and  though,  as  we 
get  a  longer  perspective,  we  see  how  their  efforts  con- 
verged to  one  result,  it  is  clear  that  their  aims  were 
widely  at  variance.  Again,  the  transformations  in 
Cuba  and  Mexico  have,  in  a  large  measure,  been  due, 
as  is  generally  believed,  to  the  work  of  daring  ad- 
venturers, backed  by  private  capital,  unscrupulously 
concealing  their  motives  behind  such  slogans  as  pa- 
triotism and  liberty,  choosing  for  their  seat  of  war 
the  frontier  of  a  powerful  and  jealous  nation,  so  that 
a  temporarily  constituted  authority  might  be  menaced 
with  intervention  and  serve  merely  as  a  transition  to 
annexation  by  the  stronger  power. 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  85 

With  affairs  in  Morocco  we  have  strictly  nothing  to 
do,  but  attention  should  be  called  in  this  connection  to 
the  skill  with  which  the  policing  of  the  frontier  has 
been  made  by  France  the  pretext  for  the  overthrow  of  a 
rude  and  corrupt  despotism.  The  game  in  that  part 
of  the  world,  as  played  by  the  Great  Powers  just  before 
and  since  the  Algeciras  Conference,  has  been  a  sort  of 
double  dummy  with  the  cards  open  on  the  board.  In 
some  mysterious  way,  not  one,  but  all  of  the  players 
win.  Germany  secured  a  slice  of  the  French  Congo  to 
widen  her  possessions  in  the  Cameroons;  France,  a 
protectorate  over  Morocco,  rounding  out  her  vast  colo- 
nial empire  in  northwestern  Africa ;  Spain  recognition 
as  a  power  and  an  enlargement  of  her  African  pos- 
sessions; Great  Britain  the  open  door.  For  that  de- 
sirable end  there  were  interminable  negotiations, 
emphasized  by  the  presence  of  a  warship  here  and  of 
an  army  there,  and  the  equipment  of  a  fleet  somewhere 
else;  but  there  was  no  overt  war. 

Something  similar  was  going  on  between  the  spring 
of  191 1  and  the  autumn  of  1912  in  the  Balkans;  in 
miniature,  perhaps,  but  still  on  a  sufficient  scale  to 
make  Young  Turkey  shiver,  to  compel  the  mobiliza- 
tion of  armies,  and  to  force  the  new  government  in 
Constantinople  to  fulfill  some  few  of  the  many  promises 
it  made  when,  three  years  earlier,  Abdul  Hamid  had 
been  unseated  and  sent  a  prisoner  to  Salonica.  The 
earlier  regime  has  been  sufficiently  described ;  the 
anxious  complots  of  Abdul  Hamid,  his  espionage, 
bribery,  peculations,  poses,  tergiversations,  and  hypoc- 
risies seemed,  when  the  writer  was  a  second  time  in 
the  Balkans,  to  be  working  as  well,  if  not  better,  than 
ever.  The  sudden  overthrow  of  the  despot  was  the 
work  of  men  who,  having  long  lived,  as  previously 


86  THE  BALKANS 

remarked,  in  Western  Europe,  at  Paris,  or  elsewhere — 
but  unfortunately  in  self-contained  groups,  misappre- 
hending entirely  the  aims  and  methods  of  European 
statecraft — believed  they  had  found  in  the  superficial 
observation  of  their  surroundings,  and  in  the  per- 
spective of  distance  from  home,  a  solution  for  all  the 
woes  of  Turkey.  Remarking  what  slender  influence 
was  exerted  in  the  West  by  religious,  confessional,  and 
even  race  distinctions,  they  conceived  the  possibility  of 
melting  together  Moslems  of  every  sect,  Christians  of 
all  denominations,  and  races  of  every  variety  within 
the  boundaries  of  Turkey,  into  a  type  citizen,  a  Turk. 
These  were  to  be  tolerant  one  of  the  other,  were  to 
cooperate  in  the  creation  of  a  modern  nation,  naturally 
under  the  leadership  of  the  Turkish  Moslem  minority, 
and  thus  perpetuate  the  Ottoman  empire. 
Young  They  had  an  elaborate  plan.     The  first  step  was  to 

Turkey  at  secure  the  cooperation  of  an  army,   composed,   they 

the  Helm  thought,  of  first-class  material,  and  trained,  they  be- 

lieved, by  the  best  German  teachers.  Succeeding  in 
this,  they  accomplished  a  coup  d'etat  as  theatrical  and 
ruthless  as  any  known  to  history.  Thereupon  they  set 
up  what  they  called,  and  what  did  have  some  re- 
semblance to,  a  constitutional  government — elections, 
parliament,  checks  on  the  crown  and  its  functions, 
administrative,  judicial,  and  military.  For  a  few 
months  there  was  the  outward  semblance  of  free  insti- 
tutions. During  that  period  of  deceitful  calm  there 
was  no  change,  however,  in  race  prejudice,  nor  in  the 
wild  nature  of  the  human  beings,  who  still  sought 
each  his  own  advantage  in  the  destruction  of  others; 
who  cultivated  each  his  own  traditions  to  the  detes- 
tation of  everyone  else's;  who  had  learned  to  despise 
order,  because  the  price  of  order  had  been  the  endur- 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  87 

ance  of  an  oppressive  and  savagely  enforced  rule, 
under  commands  given  in  ignorance  and  sanctioned  by 
brutality. 

Nor  was  there  any  change  perceptible  in  the  methods 
of  administration;  there  were  only  promises.  The 
army  had  made  the  so-called  New  Turkey ;  the  generals 
were  masters  of  the  country.  Founded  on  force,  this 
new  government  must  appeal  to  force  at  every  crisis. 
There  was  no  perceptible  effort  to  promote  true  re- 
form. It  was  frankly  asserted  in  private  circles,  it 
could  even  be  read  between  the  lines  of  the  newspapers, 
that  the  greater  the  apparent  change  in  Turkey,  the 
more  persistent  was  its  identity.  It  was  sneeringly 
repeated  on  every  side  that  the  only  single  change  was 
that  for  the  white  (silver)  baksheesh,  the  new 
authorities  had  substituted  the  yellow  (gold).  To  get 
anything  done  required  ten  times  the  secret  service 
money  necessary  under  Abdul  Hamid,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  there  was  a  division  of  powers,  and  the  oil 
in  the  can  of  bribery  had  more  pivots  to  lubricate  than 
before.  Fleet  and  army  equipment,  foreign  relations, 
constitutional  adaptation,  anything  and  everything  ex- 
cept internal  reform,  occupied  the  attention  of  Con- 
stantinople and  of  the  newspaper  correspondents  kept 
there  to  supply  news  to  the  Western  world.  The  single 
vital  problem,  that  of  Turkey's  local  and  tribal  affairs, 
remained  untouched. 

The  old  disintegrating  ideals  were,  after  the  revolu-  The  Call  of 
tion,  more  lively  in  action  than  ever.  The  six  millions  the  Clan,  or 
of  Romaic-speaking  Greeks  planned,  plotted,  and 
furnished  money  as  before  for  their  ''great  idea"  of  an 
enlarged  Hellas  and  the  restoration  of  Byzantium. 
The  Moslem  Arabs  of  the  great  desert  peninsula  on  the 
Red  Sea  demanded  governors  who  were  not  licensed 


Racial 
Antagonism 


88  THE  BALKANS 

robbers,  and  a  caliph  who  should  be  an  Arab  Moslem, 
not  a  Turkish  half-Giaour.  The  Macedonians  called 
for  an  end  of  rapine  and  murder.  The  Serbo-Croats 
agitated  more  than  ever  for  a  Great  Servia.  Bul- 
garia was  keenly  alive  to  the  possibility  of  enlarging 
her  borders  and  her  prestige  in  the  disorders  which  her 
statesmen  foresaw.  She,  from  one  side,  and  Greece, 
from  the  other,  kept  dispatching  their  guerilla  bands 
into  Macedonia,  incessantly  troubling  the  racial  and 
confessional  waters  of  that  distracted  land.  Monte- 
negro had  deep-laid  schemes  for  an  advance  into  Al- 
bania. Rumania  alone  appeared  quiescent,  but  she, 
too,  was  brooding  a  plan,  but  lately  revealed,  for 
aggrandizement ;  she,  too,  had  her  agents  in  Mace- 
donia, knitting  up  with  her  interests  those  of  the  wild 
Vlachs  scattered  throughout  various  parts  of  that 
province.  All  this  was  known  at  Constantinople,  and 
was  peevishly  attributed  to  the  activities  of  secret  Rus- 
sian agents.  The  Government,  feebly  constituted, 
though  backed  by  an  obedient  army,  could  not  supply 
the  menstruum  to  dissolve  all  these  mutually  repellent 
elements  into  even  an  inchoate  nationality. 
Optimistic  The  only  really  interesting  phenomenon  of  the  time 

Europe  was  t)ie  curious  confidence   of  optimists   throughout 

Europe.  They  seemed  actually  to  believe  that  the  Bal- 
kan question  had  been  settled  for  many  years  by  this 
effort  to  "Turkify"  Turkey  in  Europe.  The  German 
and  Austro-Hungarian  writers  naturally  were  the  most 
confident,  and  summoned  their  economic  hosts  to  the 
rich  trade  banquet  set  before  them.  The  economic 
struggle  for  southeastern  Europe  with  its  magnificent 
mineral  and  agricultural  resources  was  to  be  renewed 
with  vigor.  As  if  to  justify  their  confidence,  the  trade 
of  German  lands  with  all  the  Balkan  kingdoms  revived 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS 


89 


for  a  time  in  a  most  satisfactory  way.  Hungary  was 
not  quite  so  successful  as  Germany  and  Austria;  hav- 
ing on  her  hands  a  problem  similar  to  Turkey's  and 
almost  equally  exasperating — the  "Magyarization"  of 
recalcitrant  Germans,  Rumanians,  Slavs,  Jews,  and 
Gypsies  within  her  borders. 

The  few  who  did  not  share  this  optimism  were  not 
disappointed  when,  beginning  with  the  early  spring  of 
191 1,  the  race  volcano  exploded  once  again  and  the 
political  earth  began  to  quake.  The  origin,  and  in  part 
at  least,  the  continuance  of  that  seismic  storm  were 
ascribed  by  many  to  the  reviving  ambition  of  a  ruler 
who,  moved  by  dynastic  reasons,  and  permitted  by  other 
dynasties,  had  but  lately  changed  his  style  of  prince  to 
that  of  king,  Nicholas  of  Montenegro.  The  direct 
occasion  for  the  incipient  warfare  has  been  mentioned ; 
it  was  the  discontent  of  the  Albanian  tribes  who  had 
hitherto  been  his  bitter  foes.  They  could  not,  and 
would  not,  endure  the  humiliations  put  upon  them  in 
the  inchoate  efforts  made  in  their  bleak  and  dreary 
home  to  Turkify  them. 

How  bleak  and  how  dreary  not  only  their  country, 
but  that  of  Montenegro  is,  cannot  be  imagined;  in  this 
case,  as  in  few  others,  seeing  is  believing.  The  north- 
ern portion  of  Albania  and  the  western  half  of  Monte- 
negro is  a  country  that  seems  to  have  been  cursed  with 
barrenness.  It  is  purely  alpine,  and  alpine  of  that 
wilderness  type  known  as  "karst,"  cragged  limestone 
weathered  black.  To  one  who  has  never  seen  the  "Black 
Mountains"  words  cannot  describe  the  forbidding, 
awe-inspiring  nakedness  of  the  "karst."  Yet  every- 
where among  these  rocks  is  human  society  of  primi- 
tive type.  As  the  earth  fires  cooled,  they  left  here  and 
there   little,    irregular,   volcanic   funnels,   varying   in 


Physical 
Facts  and 
Features 


9o  THE  BALKANS 

breadth  from  fifty  to  five  hundred  feet.  These,  either 
by  natural  attrition  and  mold  formation,  or  by  artificial 
filling  with  earth,  painfully  gathered  by  hand  from  the 
interstices  of  the  rock,  or  by  both  means,  are  now 
fairly  full  of  soil  which,  were  sun  and  temperature 
more  gracious,  would  yield  fair  little  crops.  On  the 
lower  levels,  indeed,  there  grow  the  better  grains  and 
fruits,  but  on  the  inclement  mountain  sides  there  are 
to  be  seen  only  a  kind  of  buckwheat,  potatoes,  and  the 
coarser  hay  grasses. 

Elsewhere  than  in  these  pockets  there  are  scattered 
blades  of  grass,  scrubby  bush  growth  of  several  varie- 
ties, with  an  occasional  growth  of  undaunted  dwarf 
beech  or  birch,  and  sometimes  a  real  tree.  Here  and 
there  in  this  wilderness  are  vales  of  fertile  soil,  but 
as  yet  these  are  forest  thickets  or  malarial  marshes. 
Less  frequent  are  stretches,  a  few  miles  long,  where 
the  tillage  is  admirable.  The  extent  of  these  karst 
regions  is  very  great ;  they  begin  as  far  westward  as 
Carniola  and  appear  at  frequent  intervals  in  great  ex- 
panses over  the  whole  of  Europe  south  of  the  Danube  ; 
but  it  is  in  Montenegro  and  upper  Albania  that  the 
dismal  supremacy  of  "karst"  is  undisputed  either  by 
nature  or  by  man.  Each  successive  district  of  Albania 
southward  is  more  fertile  and  better  tilled,  but  in  all  of 
them  the  social  conditions  are  primitive. 

Our  latest  state-science  has  determined  that  moun- 
tain ranges,  and  not  river  channels,  form  proper  bound- 
ary lines.  Such  slopes  and  summits  as  we  have  de- 
scribed are  not  only  a  frontier,  but  are  a  naturally 
fortified  and  garrisoned  frontier.  The  nomad  herds- 
men who  range  them  are  born  soldiers,  and  each  carries 
in  his  capacious  belt  his  own  arsenal  of  weapons  and 
ammunition. 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  91 

It  may  seem  utterly  absurd  and  ridiculous  that  a  Montenegro 
kingdom  so  tiny  and  likewise  so  infertile,  with  a  Aim  and 
population  no  larger  than  a  good-sized  town,  should  be  spura  on 
an  aspirant  for  Servian  leadership;  but  an  aspirant  it 
is,  and  for  reasons  which  can  only  be  explained  by 
some  account  of  its  scanty  annals.  In  the  fourteenth 
century,  the  little  district  between  Cattaro  on  the  Adri- 
atic and  the  high-lying  lake  of  Scutari,  some  forty 
miles  distant  in  the  bosom  of  the  Albanian  Alps,  was 
known,  from  the  name  of  the  stream  which  waters 
and  drains  it,  as  the  principality  of  Zeta,  and  was  a  de- 
pendency of  the  great  Servian  empire,  its  few  in- 
habitants being  pure  Servians  then  as  they  are  to-day. 
When  the  great  Servia  was  overrun  by  the  Turks  the 
conquerors  barely  penetrated  to  these  mountain  fast- 
nesses, and  in  this  Chernagora,  or  Black  Mountain, 
principality  there  was  a  semi-independent  line  of  chief- 
tains, at  once  bishops  and  secular  princes,  under  whom 
the  defense  was  defiantly  successful  against  all  efforts 
at  subjugation. 

In  the  fifteenth  century  a  conspicuous  warrior  fixed 
on  the  land  the  then  already  current  name,  which  seems 
destined  to  permanency  on  the  lips  of  its  people,  Cher- 
nagoia,  Monte  Negro — Black  Mountains.  This 
Stephen  founded,  in  1485,  the  cloister  which  is  the 
nucleus  of  the  little  capital  city,  Cettigne,  formed  an 
alliance  with  Venice,  and,  in  triumphant  guerilla 
warfare,  drove  the  Turks  before  his  companies  and 
scattered  their  forces  wherever  they  appeared  as  in- 
vaders. His  grandson  was  the  notorious  Scander  Beg, 
a  pervert  to  Islam,  who,  for  a  period,  ruled  as  Turkish 
viceroy;  but  heathen  rule  was  intolerable  to  the  Chris- 
tian folk  with  its  tradition  of  heroic  victory  over  Mos- 
lem  foes,  and  in   15 16  the  bishop   (Vladika)    Vavil 


92  THE  BALKANS 

headed  a  successful  revolt.  It  was,  however,  as  sepa- 
rate clans  and  not  as  a  nation,  that  the  people  repulsed 
their  hated  foes;  and  for  a  time  there  was  a  reversion 
to  blood  feuds,  personal  and  tribal.  Nothing  but  the 
renewed  and  powerful  attack  of  the  Turks  could  unite 
them;  and  the  Moslem  advance  seemed  irresistible 
until  in  the  person  of  another  bishop-prince  (Danilo, 
1 697-1 735)  a  barbaric  bond  of  union  was  formed  and 
every  non-Christian  in  the  land  was  on  a  preconcerted 
signal  seized  and  killed.  It  was  a  rude  retribution — 
the  Montenegrin  vespers  of  171 1. 

Thereupon  this  Danilo  Petrowich,  son  of  Peter, 
entered  into  relations  of  closest  intimacy  with  another 
ruler  of  the  iron  hand,  Czar  Peter  the  Great,  relations 
which,  for  historic  and  sentimental  reasons,  have  never 
been  broken  by  the  successors  of  either.  With  Tur- 
key's embittered  foe  on  the  other  side,  the  then  still 
powerful  commonwealth  of  Venice,  he  also  formed  an 
alliance,  joined  ranks  with  hers  and  conducted  a  vic- 
torious campaign  against  the  Crescent.  He  then  made 
the  episcopate  hereditary  in  his  line,  the  family  of 
Nyegosh,  but  intrusted  the  secular  authority  to  a 
governor  who  was  to  be  second  in  position.  This 
worked  so  ill  that  for  a  time,  over  fifty  years  (1625- 
1681),  the  governor  was  the  superior,  winning  the  re- 
spect and  uniting  the  hearts  of  the  warlike  clans  on 
the  Black  Mountains. 

But  Peter  I  ended  this  insubordination,  and,  a  hard- 
hitting prelate  himself,  led  the  Montenegrin  forces 
against  the  Porte  in  the  campaigns  of  1 788-1 791,  de- 
feating the  great  Pasha  Kara-Mahmoud  at  Krusa.  In 
the  fifteen  long  years  of  peace  which  ensued  he  proved 
as  capable  in  administration  as  he  had  been  in  war, 
unified  his  people  by  tactful  diplomacy,  and  in   1798 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  93 

promulgated  a  code  of  laws.  But  the  affair  of  Monte- 
negrin men  is  war;  and  wherever  Russian  armies 
fought  there  were  the  fierce  mountaineers,  generally 
under  the  vladika-woiwode,  or  bishop-prince.  Peter 
I  and  his  soldiers  won  glory  in  1808  against  the  French 
in  Ragusa;  in  1813-1814,  with  the  help  of  English 
men-of-war,  he  captured  Cattaro  from  the  same  foe; 
but  at  the  end  of  the  Napoleonic  wars  he  was  forced 
by  the  treaty  of  Vienna  to  abandon  his  longed-for  ac- 
cess to  the  sea  and  surrender  it  to  Austria.  His  people 
so  adored  him  that  on  his  death  he  was  canonized. 

Peter  II  was  a  no  less  amazing  personage;  a  poet, 
priest,  warrior,  and  administrator,  enforcing  the  law, 
creating  a  legislature,  ordering  the  machinery  of  state 
and  inaugurating  a  school  system.  He  was  likewise 
the  greatest  poet  who  ever  has  sung  in  the  Servian 
tongue.  His  nephew,  Danilo  I,  was  his  successor. 
While  Peter  II  had  abolished  the  office  of  governor, 
the  new  ruler  reversed  the  action ;  he  resigned  the 
dignity  of  bishop  and  announced  himself  as  a  secular 
prince;  the  style  he  assumed,  with  the  assent  of  Russia, 
was  prince  and  lord  of  Montenegro  and  the  Burda. 
This  prince  was  a  great  statesman.  In  the  nine  years 
of  his  reign,  1851-1860,  he  crushed  out  the  clan 
feuds,  extirpated  the  vendetta,  reformed  the  code  and 
its  administration,  introduced  the  taxation  of  land,  and 
established  universal  military  service.  The  day  was 
passing  swiftly,  alike  of  chieftains  and  hero-worship, of 
hereditary  war-power  and  of  particularism.  The  value 
of  Danilo's  reforms  was  twice  proven;  once  when,  in 
1852,  the  Turks  threatened  invasion  and  were  with- 
held by  the  protest  of  Austria,  and  again  in  1858,  when 
they  were  soundly  beaten  at  Grahovo.  On  the  first 
occasion  it  was  the  prince's  gigantic  strength  of  mind 


94  THE  BALKANS 

and  body  which  set  on  foot  a  formidable  army  and  led 
Austria  to  intervene ;  on  the  second,  it  was  the  prowess 
of  an  army  actually  made  and  trained  by  him  that  won 
the  battle  against  Omar  Pasha  and  a  superior  force. 
Such  masterful  men  make  embittered  foes,  and  he  was 
assassinated  by  one  of  his  own  subjects,  but  not  before 
a  boundary  line  between  Montenegro  and  Turkey, 
satisfactory  except  in  one  small  district,  had  been 
surveyed  and  established. 

His  nephew,  Nicholas,  was  his  successor.  Born  in 
1 84 1,  educated  in  Trieste  and  Paris,  he  was  called  at 
the  age  of  nineteen  to  a  tremendous  task :  the  Herze- 
govina had  risen  in  revolt  against  Turkey,  the 
Montenegrins  were  lending  aid,  and  two  famous  Tur- 
kish generals,  Omar  and  Derwish,  were  at  the  gates  of 
Cettigne.  The  situation  was  too  critical  for  rash  ad- 
venture, and  peace  had  to  be  made  at  Scutari,  as  the 
Powers  willed.  But  by  this  time  it  was  evident  that 
the  good  will  of  Montenegro  was  of  the  first  im- 
portance to  Turkey ;  and  Sultan  Abdul  Aziz  not  merely 
settled  the  existing  boundary  trouble  but  gave  Nicholas 
access  to  the  sea  by  the  cession  of  Novosella.  There 
followed  twelve  years  of  peace  and  of  internal  organi- 
zation;  but  when,  in  1876,  Servia  declared  war  against 
Turkey,  the  fighting  spirit  of  the  still  wild  moun- 
taineers was  too  strong  to  be  checked,  and  the  Monte- 
negrin forces  took  the  field. 

Repulsed  in  their  first  encounter,  they  won  two  suc- 
cessive victories  of  the  first  importance,  at  Yucido  and 
on  the  Fundina,  both  of  which  fields  were  bitterly  con- 
tested. Russia  intervened  to  end  the  conflict  for  her 
own  reasons,  but  Montenegro  felt  assured  of  additions 
to  her  territory  as  indemnity.  This  the  great  powers,  in 
the  conference  of  1877.  refused,  and  Montenegro  took 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  95 

the  field  alone.  Turkey  sent  her  two  most  renowned 
generals,  Soleiman  and  AH  Saib,  at  the  head  of  power- 
ful armies,  to  annihilate  the  little  state.  There  were 
ten  days  of  stubborn  conflict  before  the  Turks  were 
forced  back  into  Albania.  At  once  Nicholas  passed 
on,  conquered  the  town  and  fortress  of  Nikshich  (Sep- 
tember eighth),  captured  Spush,  in  January,  1878,  and 
stormed  the  medieval  fortress  of  Antivari  on  the  Adri- 
atic. Such  military  triumphs  could  not  be  overlooked, 
and  by  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  not  only  was  the  territory 
of  Montenegro  more  than  doubled,  but  her  complete 
independence  was  formally  recognized.  Her  recent 
boundaries  were  fixed  by  an  exchange  with  Turkey, 
welcome  to  both  parties.  The  Porte  regained  a  part  of 
Albania,  essential  to  the  strength  of  the  Turkish  fron- 
tier; Nicholas  secured  another  stretch  of  coast  land, 
including  the  one-time  robber  nest  and  fine  harbor  of 
Dulcigno.  All  nations  have  struggled  with  boundary 
questions  due  to  ignorance  of  geography  and  imper- 
fect surveying;  one  such  remained  unsettled  between 
Turkey  and  Montenegro. 

For  thirty  years  there  was  peace  in  those  rude 
borders.  The  miniature  capital  of  Cettigne  has  a  cer- 
tain number  of  good  public  edifices  and  three  embas- 
sies lodged  in  stately  buildings.  But  its  broad  streets 
are  flanked  with  low,  one-story  village  houses,  small 
and  primitive.  The  only  conspicuous  shops  are  those 
of  the  tailors,  whose  windows  are  a  revel  of  gold 
galloon  and  gay  colors.  The  splendor  of  Monte- 
negrin costume  is  exhibited  in  the  stately  saunterings 
of  the  men  on  the  public  squares.  Wjjh  the  consent  of 
the  powers,  Nicholas,  as  stated,  has  crowned  himself 
a  king.  His  consort  is  a  model  wife,  mother,  and  queen, 
and  the  modest  state  of  his  home  does  not  shock  the 


96  THE  BALKANS 

still  primitive  peasantry  who  are  his  subjects.  He 
has  improved  every  department  of  public  life  and  serv- 
ice, especially  in  the  creation  of  an  active  legislature, 
of  an  improved  judiciary,  and  of  an  efficient  educa- 
tional system.  The  crown  prince  Danilo  led  to  the 
altar  the  daughter  of  an  opulent  Trieste  merchant.  His 
other  children  have  married  into  powerful  royal 
houses,  and  dynastic  politics  are  still  of  the  first  im- 
portance east  of  the  Leitha  River  and  the  Adriatic. 
The  old  friendship  with  Russia  has  been  further 
strengthened,  and  the  most  conspicuous  evidence  of 
her  bounties  is  to  be  found  in  the  capital.  The 
foreign  language  cultivated  and  spoken  in  Cettigne  is 
Italian — a  significant  fact,  as  is  the  use  by  polite  society 
of  French  in  Bucharest,  and,  for  the  most  part,  of 
German  in  both  Sophia  and  Belgrade.  While  in  cen- 
tral Europe  English  is  the  foreign  tongue  most  af- 
fected, it  proves  of  little  service  to  the  traveler  to  the 
eastward,  whether  north  or  south,  though  most  culti- 
vated Russians  can  speak  it  if  they  will. 

I  have  dwelt  at  some  length  on  Montenegro  as  I  did 
on  Albania.  Until  191 1  they  stood  in  armed  defiance; 
one  the  bulwark  of  Slavism  on  the  south,  the  other 
Turkey's  rock  of  defense  to  the  northwest.  For  a 
short  time  the  two  peoples  were  warm  friends.  Those 
parts  of  Albania  once  Turkish  and  mainly  Mohamme- 
dan, assigned  to  Nicholas  by  the  Treaty  of  Berlin,  or 
taken  in  exchange,  were  content  under  Montenegrin 
rule;  the  wildest  clansmen  of  the  Albanian  Alps  were 
kindly  entreated  when  they  rose  in  rebellion  and,  de- 
feated, were  refugees  across  the  Montenegrin  border. 
Strange  and  unforeseen  rearrangement  of  relations! 
What  was  the  cause?  The  drawing  together  was  not  a 
permanent  one;  merely  a  sign  of  the  coming  era  in 


People 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  97 

Turkish  politics.  In  any  case  there,  on  an  imaginary 
line  across  the  great  lake  of  Scutari,  is  certainly  what 
has  proven  to  be  the  weather-corner  of  European  poli- 
tics. Is  it  astonishing  that  Montenegro  aspires  to 
leadership  in  the  great  Servian  movement? 

The  territory  of  Montenegro  comprises  about  The 
thirty-four  hundred  square  miles,  and  its  inhabitants  Montenegrin 
number  two  hundred  and  seventy  thousand.  The  west-  p°^Jy  an 
ern  part  to  the  banks  of  the  river  Zeta — Chernagora, 
Black  Mountains,  proper — is  the  bleak  "karst,"  or 
waterless  rocky-mountain  land  already  described ;  the 
snow-capped  Lortshen  is  nearly  six  thousand  feet  high. 
The  eastern  or  Burda  district  is  mountainous,  too,  but 
fertile  and  well  watered ;  it  contains  the  Dormitor,  a 
peak  eight  thousand  feet  in  height ;  within  it  are  superb 
primitive  forests  and  much  wild,  luxuriant  vegetation. 
A  third  portion,  southward  and  toward  the  sea,  is  semi- 
tropical  and  superbly  fertile,  awaiting  only  the  canali- 
zation of  the  Boyanna  River,  outlet  of  the  lake 
of  Scutari,  to  be  one  among  the  garden  spots  of  the 
world,  as  will  likewise  be  the  left  or  Albanian  bank, 
so  admirable  is  the  tillage  of  the  Albanian  population 
on  both.  The  wine  and  tobacco  of  certain  districts  are 
renowned. 

This  tiny  and  still  indigent  people  of  Montenegro 
has  worked  some  miracles.  There  is  already  built  a 
system  of  excellent  highways  on  which  motor  post 
coaches  run,  and  more  such  roads  are  surveyed ;  there 
are  thirty  post  and  twenty-four  telegraph  offices  with 
nearly  five  hundred  miles  of  telegraph  line.  In  the  capi- 
tal are  two  high  schools,  one  for  boys  and  one  for  girls, 
and  a  normal  school;  and  scattered  throughout  the 
country  in  convenient  places  are  eighty  primary 
schools.    Two  newspapers  are  printed  in  the  national 


98  THE  BALKANS 

printing  office  in  Cettigne,  and  a  second  printer  is 
established  in  Nikshich.  The  army  system  makes 
every  male  a  soldier  from  sixteen  to  sixty-two,  and 
military  service  is  compulsory  during  a  portion  of  every 
year.  The  king  has  a  bodyguard  of  one  hundred  pro- 
fessional soldiers.  The  constitutional  system,  con- 
ceded by  the  prince  in  1905,  works  with  such  impulse 
as  a  sovereign,  virtually  absolute,  gives  to  it;  and  that 
is  considerable.  The  exports  are  to  the  value  of 
about  four  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  the  imports 
a  million. 

The  visitor  to  Montenegro  has  a  sense  of  its  bitter 
poverty,  which  the  people  themselves  do  not  feel.    As 
was  said  of  Greece,  the  estimate  of  the  tourist  depends 
on  his  point  of  view ;  amid  the  wild  surrounding  peo- 
ples Montenegro  is  in  a  state  of  advanced  civilization, 
a  model  and  a  stimulus.     But  a  Montenegrin  country 
home!     Four  stone  walls  and  a  roof,  thatch  or  slate, 
with  no  chimneys,  the  smoke  oozing  out  through  every 
cranny  of  the  eaves,  the  unglazed  windows  and  open 
doors.    Within  is  a  clay  floor,  with  smoldering  embers 
in  the  middle,   and  wide  couches   round   about:   the 
cattle  are  in  a  lean-to  at  the  end,  with  their  hoard  of 
manure  cherished  like  the  treasure  it  is.    Some  houses 
are  better,  some  worse  than  this  faithful  description, 
but  the  average  is  very  low.    The  men  in  stately,  though 
soiled  garb,  give  orders  and  march  with  warrior  mien ; 
the  women  powerfully  accomplish  the  work  of  house, 
byre,  and  field,  with  a  minimum  of  assistance  from 
their  lords.     The  physique  of  the  adults  is  fine  and 
their  vigor  great,  although  they  suffer  sadly  from  rheu- 
matism.     The    religious    instincts    are  primitive    and 
their  church  feeling  intolerant.    Their  minds  dwell  on 
tradition  and  song,  on  the  mighty  deeds  of  their  ances- 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  99 

try,  and  their  tempers  are  easily  fired  to  warlike 
energy.  They  are  temperate  in  food,  and,  for  the  most 
part,  in  drink;  hospitable,  polite,  and  obliging.  The 
best  judges  declare  that  the  stranger,  male  or  female, 
is  safe  in  body  and  estate  in  the  remotest  districts, 
though  others  are  not  of  this  opinion.  To  a  rude  peas- 
antry like  this,  the  meanest  house  in  Cettigne  with 
chimneys,  glass  windows,  tight  doors,  and  plastered 
walls  seems  a  palace  in  comparison  with  their  own 
hovels.  The  self-complacency  mirrored  on  the  faces  of 
the  dwellers  in  the  capital  is  charming. 

On  the  southern  frontier  of  Montenegro  are  the  Grecian  Aims 
Albanians,  who  have  secured  at  the  hands  of  a  Euro-  and  influence 
pean  conference  the  final  delimitation  of  their  fron- 
tiers by  an  international  commission.  North  and 
south  and  beyond  lie  the  districts  which  are  already 
partly  Greek  and  destined  apparently  to  become  entirely 
so.  Modern  Greece  owes  much  to  the  Albanians,  who, 
during  the  years  of  their  revolt  against  Turkey,  came 
frequently,  though  spasmodically,  to  assist  in  their 
struggle  for  liberty.  So  grateful  were  the  Greeks  that, 
as  previously  told,  they  adopted  as  their  national  cos- 
tume the  picturesque  garb  of  their  allies.  It  is  rather 
a  shock  to  one  familiar  with  the  remains  of  classical 
antiquity  and  sculptures  representing  the  exquisite 
garments  which  its  refined  taste  provided  alike  for  the 
men  and  women  of  ancient  Greece,  to  come  upon  the 
Greek  of  to-day  in  the  half-barbaric  holiday  dress, 
which  his  fathers  adopted  and  which  seems  destined 
to  hold  its  own.  The  tasseled  tarboosh,  the  ruffled 
shirt,  the  gaudy  jacket,  the  swelling  fustanella,  or  kilt, 
with  its  hundreds  of  folds  of  soiled  linen,  the  woollen 
hose,  and  the  feet  clad  in  Oriental,  heelless  shoes, 
turned  up  at  the  toes  and  adorned  with  a  ball  of  wool- 


ioo  THE  BALKANS 

len  yarn — this  combination,  picturesque  enough  in 
itself,  does  not  appear  exactly  to  express  the  ancestry 
which  the  Greeks  of  to-day  claim  for  themselves. 

When  writing  earlier  of  their  origins  it  was  narrated 
that  the  inhabitants  of  the  ^Egean  Isles,  of  some 
portions  of  the  Peloponnesus,  and  of  a  few  districts 
upon  the  mainland  of  Hellas,  might  well  claim  a  fairly 
unmixed  ancestry;  but  it  was  likewise  explained  how 
large  an  admixture  of  other  race  stocks  there  must 
necessarily  be  among  them.  We  have  enumerated  no 
fewer  than  ten  successive  peoples  overrunning  and 
settling  more  or  less  completely  portions  of  Hellas. 
After  prehistoric  man  came  the  first  migrations  of 
Thracians,  Scythians,  and  Illyrians ;  then  successively 
of  Celts,  of  Romans,  of  Goths,  Vandals,  and  Huns, 
of  Avars,  Bulgars,  Slavs  and  Turks.  Nevertheless, 
the  ages  have  done  a  marvelous  work  of  amalgamation, 
and  the  modern  Greek  may  probably  claim  to  be  a 
Greek  quite  as  much  as  the  Romance  peoples  of  Europe 
claim  to  be  either  Celtic  or  Roman. 

They  themselves,  as  previously  stated,  estimate  their 
numbers  in  Greece  proper  and  in  the  Levant,  including 
Constantinople,  at  twelve  millions;  their  bitterest  foes 
admit  that  in  the  Balkan  peninsula  alone  they  number 
six.  The  probability  is  that  this  should  be  increased 
by  two,  and  that  elsewhere  there  are  two  millions  more. 
In  the  great  cities  of  the  eastern  Mediterranean  they 
are  shrewd  and  successful  merchants,  and  many  of 
them  have  amassed  enormous  fortunes,  which,  as  we 
have  said,  they  liberally  distribute  for  the  promotion 
of  Greek  interests,  both  in  the  smaller  and  greater 
Hellas.  But  their  agricultural  capacities  are  limited 
and  somewhat  inferior.  In  Greece  proper  there 
are  numbers  of  Albanians,  possibly  some  tens  of  thou- 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  101 

sands,  who  have  retained  their  language  and  their 
original  character,  altogether  avoiding  intermarriage 
with  the  Greeks ;  yet  they  feel  themselves  as  Greek  as 
their  neighbors.  In  one  respect  only  are  these  colonist 
Albanians  and  the  native  Greeks  completely  united; 
they  are  nearly  all  of  the  orthodox  Greek  confession, 
which,  in  the  parts  of  Europe  with  which  we  are 
dealing,  is  a  powerful  bond.  Of  course,  there  are  other 
ties,  especially  the  common  tradition  of  bitter  hatred 
for  the  Turks,  inasmuch  as  they  are  both  descendants 
of  the  men  who  suffered  from  Turkish  oppression  at 
its  worst.  They  have  also  in  common — and  this  is 
perhaps  the  strongest  tie — the  omnipresent  "Great 
Idea,"  the  restoration  of  the  Byzantine  empire  with 
Constantinople  once  more  as  its  capital. 

A  certain  rather  small  portion  of  the  Greeks  in  Asia 
and  Crete  were,  and  very  few  still  are,  fanatical  Mos- 
lems ;  of  these  many  use  the  Turkish  language,  written 
in  Greek  characters.  This  fact  does  not  altogether 
alienate  them  from  their  nearer  or  remoter  kinsfolk, 
neither  the  millions  in  the  Levant  nor  the  hundreds  of 
thousands  in  America.  The  islands,  we  repeat,  includ- 
ing Crete  and  the  others  so  lately  under  Turkish 
sovereignty,  have  no  other  inhabitants,  important  in 
numbers,  than  Greeks.  This  must  not  be  forgotten 
because  it  makes  the  ultimate  settlement  of  their  fate 
most  difficult.  Those  who  go  to  and  fro  in  that  part 
of  the  world,  immediately  discover  the  undoubted 
national  type  and  national  character. 

Every  people  has  a  right  to  be  judged  from  its  own 
standpoint.  The  Greeks,  having  really  created  the 
Greek  Church,  retained,  when  all  else  was  lost,  their 
passionate  devotion  for  what  was  the  one  remaining 
outward  expression  of  their  national  unity.    The  con- 


102  THE  BALKANS 

querors  of  Constantinople,  never  very  sure  of  their 
position  in  a  Christian  world,  followed  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  their  conquests  the  line  of  least  resistance. 
The  Greek  patriarch  at  Constantinople,  throughout  a 
long  succession  of  four  centuries,  was  always  a  facile 
tool  in  the  hands  of  the  Sultans  who  appointed  him. 
His  power  was  alike  ecclesiastical  and  civil.  The  Greek 
quarters  of  the  city  became  the  administrative  center 
of  European  Turkey.  Contemptuous  Islam  could  see 
only  its  own  face  reflected  in  other  social  systems ;  for 
it  the  communities  professing  the  Greek  faith,  what- 
ever their  race  or  origin,  were  Greeks.  Scattered 
from  the  Black  Sea  to  the  Adriatic,  these  communities 
were  therefore  administered  as  a  nation,  or  nations, 
through  the  Greek  patriarch  by  means  of  Phanariote 
agents,  who,  according  to  the  manner  of  Oriental 
tyranny,  were  unrestrained  by  their  masters  and  kept 
in  office  as  long  as  the  required  taxes  were  paid  into 
the  Sultan's  treasury.  Many,  if  not  all  of  these  agents, 
enriched  themselves,  lived  in  great  state,  and  frequently 
combined  to  resist  the  Sultan's  decrees  in  their  own 
interests.  It  was,  therefore,  not  difficult  for  them, 
within  the  limits  of  their  administrative  districts,  to 
subordinate  everything  to  Greek  interest.  The  rather 
stupid  Slavic  peoples,  stupid  at  least  in  comparison 
with  the  wily  Greek,  were  overridden  and  crushed  into 
dull  indifference,  until  they  frequently  professed  them- 
selves Greeks  in  sheer  despair. 

By  Phanariote  influence  the  Servian  Church  in 
1766  and  the  Bulgarian  a  year  later  were  subordinated 
to  the  patriarchate  at  Constantinople.  In  Bulgaria  the 
popular  speech  almost  disappeared  from  use,  except 
in  the  houses  of  the  lowly  or  in  the  privacy  of  the 
better  classes;  in  church  and  school  the  only  permitted 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  103 

language  was  Greek.  As  late  as  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century  there  were  Hellenic  schools  even  in 
villages  where  not  a  single  Greek  resided.  To  assert 
any  position  whatever,  it  was  necessary  to  feel,  to 
think,  and  to  speak  like  a  Greek;  "Bulgar"  and  "vul- 
gar" were  synonymous.  The  Servians  were  more  tena- 
cious, but  the  Bulgarians  abroad,  as  well  as  at  home, 
posed  as  anything  but  Bulgarians.  It  was  only  in  a 
few  peasant  huts  that  the  hereditary  hatred  for  Greece 
and  for  the  Greek  Church  was  outspoken,  being  espe- 
cially bitter  against  the  Greek  clergy,  who  virtually 
purchased  from  their  superiors  the  positions  which 
they  held,  and  exacted  the  price  of  their  simony  from 
the  poor  wretches  whose  spiritual  guides  they  pro- 
fessed to  be.  As  if  to  obliterate  any  possible  retention 
by  Bulgarians  of  national  character,  even  the  literary 
remains  of  the  one-time  powerful  Bulgarian  empire, 
preserved  in  cloisters  or  in  the  patriarchate  library  at 
Tirnovo,  were  committed  to  the  flames.  There  sur- 
vived but  a  few  popular  romances  and  spoken  tradi- 
tion; from  these  uncertain  sources  a  monk  of  Mount 
Athos  in  1762  committed  to  writing  what  purported 
to  be  a  Slovene-Bulgarian  history. 

Probably,  however,  the  climax  of  Phanariote  rule 
was  reached  in  two  provinces  known  to  us  as  Wal- 
lachia  and  Moldavia,  now  united  to  form  the  kingdom 
of  Rumania.  In  those  principalities,  which  were  in  a 
sense  frontier  lands,  the  administrators  received  from 
the  Sultan  both  official  titles  and  most  extended  powers. 
Their  seats  were  firmer  than  elsewhere  in  the  Ottoman 
empire.  For  that  reason,  great  numbers  of  their  com- 
patriots followed  in  their  train  across  the  Danube, 
colonized  the  most  fertile  districts,  and  exercised  so 
beneficent  an  influence  upon  the  half-barbarous  native 


104  THE  BALKANS 

population  that  they  inaugurated  a  process  of  assimila- 
tion which  made  those  principalities  more  Greek  than 
any  others,  except  those  of  Greece  proper.  Most  of  the 
Phanariote  voivodes,  or  princes,  were  able  and  admir- 
able men ;  they  founded  Greek  schools,  introduced  the 
use  of  the  Greek  language,  provided  instruction  in 
Greek  philosophy,  and  generally  elevated  the  life  of  the 
towns  to  a  high  level  of  Hellenic  civilization.  But  the 
Rumanians,  like  the  native  Servians,  were  stubborn  in 
retaining  their  speech  and  institutions,  so  that  even 
where  the  Phanariote  rule  (disregarding  a  few  noto- 
rious and  shocking  exceptions)  was  generally  excel- 
lent, it  was  probably  the  least  acceptable. 
Greek  Such  considerations  as  these  explain  the  pertinacity 

Uprisings  with  which  the  true  Hellenes  cherished  in  their  hearts 

what  seems  to  so  many  the  insane  idea  of  a  restored 
Byzantium.  It  was  the  mainspring  of  the  rebellion 
which  culminated  in  1830  by  the  recognition  of  their 
independence.  The  church  had  never  suffered  to 
grow  dormant  the  idea  of  restoring  to  its  members 
their  political  liberties.  Their  innate  capacity  for 
trade  and  for  administration  kept  them  in  high  places. 
Furnished  with  abundant  means,  they  sent  their  youth 
to  be  educated  in  Western  lands.  As  early  as  1796 
men  thus  educated  began  to  agitate.  At  the  Congress 
of  Vienna  many  plenipotentiaries  were  won  to  the 
Hellenic  cause  by  Kapo  dTstrias,  president  of  the 
Greek  society  in  Athens  known  as  the  Hetairia.  This 
association  moved  upon  a  plane  rather  too  high  for  the 
common  Greeks,  and  a  similar  one  for  the  plain  people 
was  founded  in  18 14.  Its  leaders  proclaimed  that  they 
aimed  not  merely  at  the  emancipation  of  Greece,  but  at 
the  restoration  of  Byzantium,  an  idea  which,  for  a 
hundred  years,  has  appeared  utterly  fanciful. 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  105 

So  effectual  were  the  agitations  of  both  these 
societies  that  Russia,  the  ever-present  and  persistently 
embittered  foe  of  Turkey,  began  in  1821  to  heed  their 
call.  Trusting  to  the  Czar's  personal  interest  and 
privately  expressed  sympathies,  Alexander  Ypsilanti, 
son  of  a  Wallachian  hospodar  or  Grand  Duke,  collected 
a  band  of  followers  in  southern  Russia,  marched  over 
the  frontier  into  Jassy,  and  issued  a  proclamation  call- 
ing his  kinsfolk  to  arms.  The  action  was  too  precipi- 
tate. The  foreign  relations  of  Russia  compelled  her 
openly  to  disapprove  of  the  movement.  Undismayed, 
Nicholas  Ypsilanti,  the  brother  of  Alexander,  took  up 
the  banner  and,  in  spite  of  every  discouragement,  dis- 
union, desertion,  and  treason,  succeeded  in  raising  a 
still  larger  body  of  Greeks  and  Greek  sympathizers. 
The  two  Pashas  of  Silistria  and  Braila  collected  a  force 
for  the  national  defense,  and  utterly  destroyed  the 
rebel  army  on  the  nineteenth  of  June.  Alexander 
sought  protection  on  Hungarian  soil,  where  his  exile 
lasted  for  more  than  six  years,  and  was  ended  only  by 
the  intercession  of  the  Czar  Nicholas. 

But  in  this  case  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  was 
literally  the  seed  of  the  church.  The  word  "Ypsilanti" 
aroused  enthusiasm  among  all  lovers  of  liberty  through- 
out the  Western  world,  and  an  American  city  which 
bears  the  name  is  perhaps  their  most  enduring  monu- 
ment. The  Greeks  themselves  were  aroused  to  unprec- 
edented energy,  and  rebellion  broke  out  in  the  Pelopon- 
nesus almost  immediately.  The  Turks  were  thoroughly 
frightened ;  there  was  inaugurated  that  series  of  shock- 
ing and  atrocious  outrages  which  have  been,  and  still 
are,  a  dark  blot  upon  Balkan  history.  In  mad  fury, 
the  most  frightful  and  bloody  revenge  was  taken  upon 
all   who   had   participated   in   the   uprising,   and   the 


106  THE  BALKANS 

wholesale  massacres  of  the  Greeks  in  the  island  of 
Chios  roused  Europe  to  a  pitch  of  enthusiasm  for  the 
Greek  cause,  which,  in  the  long  run,  proved  its  most 
valuable  asset.  A  flotilla  of  armed  fishing  smacks 
and  a  few  larger  ships,  under  Kanaris,  annihilated  the 
Turkish  fleet  in  the  /Egean.  The  Mainotes  surrounded 
the  Turkish  troops,  drove  them  into  Tripolitza,  in- 
vested the  town,  and  finally  captured  it.  The  first  na- 
tional Greek  Assembly  met  on  New  Year's  Day,  1822. 
Lord  Byron  published  his  amazing  verse,  and  together 
with  William  Miiller,  in  Germany,  fanned  the  phil- 
hellenic sentiment  of  Western  Europe.  For  some 
three  years  the  irregular  Greek  bands  were  successful 
in  their  encounters  with  their  oppressors.  The  Sultan, 
in  his  despair,  sought  help  from  Mehemet  Ali  in  Egypt, 
bribing  the  insubordinate  viceroy  with  the  promise  of 
Crete  and  the  Peloponnesus.  Before  his  disciplined 
ranks  the  Greeks  could  make  no  stand ;  the  seat  of  war 
was  turned  into  a  scene  of  torture,  of  rapine,  and 
ruthless  bloodshed ;  volunteers  from  Western  Europe, 
who,  in  their  enthusiasm,  had  joined  the  ranks  of  the 
wild  Greeks,  were  fellow  victims  in  the  common  butch- 
ery; Lord  Byron  perished  at  Missolonghi  and  the  phil- 
hellenists  of  the  civilized  world,  those  of  England  and 
France  in  particular,  began  to  demand  intervention. 
Grecian  Europe  was  weary  of  the  Metternich  system.     On 

Independence  December  I,  1825,  Alexander  of  Russia  died,  and  his 
successor,  Nicholas  I,  was  hostile  to  the  Austrian 
leadership.  Canning  took  the  decisive  step,  and  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  under  his  instructions,  negotiated 
an  agreement  at  Saint  Petersburg  for  the  autonomy  of 
Greece  as  a  state  tributary  to  the  Ottoman  empire. 
The  French  were,  perhaps,  the  most  enthusiastic  phil- 
hellenes  of  Europe;  their  government  was  forced  to 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  107 

join  the  movement.  A  fleet  consisting  of  war  vessels 
belonging  to  different  powers  was  assembled  within 
Greek  waters.  The  battle  of  Navarino,  on  October  20, 
1827,  was  begun  probably  by  an  accident,  but  it  re- 
sulted in  the  annihilation  of  the  Turkish-Egyptian 
fleet.  Who  was  to  reap  the  advantages  of  this  tinde- 
sired  and  perplexing  victory?  The  philhellenic 
coalition  fell  apart;  Kapo  d'Istrias,  president  of  the 
Greek  Assembly,  was  believed  to  be  under  Russian 
influence ;  a  French  army  drove  the  Turkish  and  Egyp- 
tain  force  out  of  the  Peloponnesus.  Canning  was  dead ; 
England,  under  new  leadership,  was  jealous  of  both 
powers,  and  for  a  short  period  sided  with  the  Sultan 
against  Greece — particularly  after  the  outbreak  of  the 
war  between  Russia  and  Turkey  in  1828.  The  Rus- 
sians had  pressed  forward  and  were  under  the  walls  of 
Adrianople,  where  they  dictated  the  peace  of  Septem- 
ber 14,  1829.  By  its  terms  the  Porte  agreed  to  cede 
certain  Asiatic  lands,  to  raze  several  fortifications  in 
Wallachia,  and  to  accept  the  terms  of  an  international 
conference  held  in  London  regarding  Greece.  On 
February  3,  1830,  the  Powers  declared  the  independ- 
ence of  Greece,  and  on  April  24  the  Sultan  recognized 
it.  Meantime  Greek  armed  forces  had  met  with  great 
success  in  Greece  itself,  a  success  which  created 
jealousy  and  suspicion  among  the  various  leaders  and 
threatened  to  undo  the  work  of  the  past  eight  years. 
The  Greek  Assembly,  however,  under  pressure  from 
without,  selected  as  king  of  the  new  little  state  Leopold 
of  Saxe  Coburg.  It  was  not  amazing  that  he  declined. 
Incipient  civil  war  was  raging  in  Greece ;  Admiral 
Miaulis  had  virtually  destroyed  the  fleet  of  his  own 
country  for  personal  reasons ;  and  Kapo  d'Istrias  was 
assassinated  by  fellow  patriots  at  Nauplia.    Thereupon 


io8  THE  BALKANS 

the  London  Conference  declared  Greece  a  hereditary 
monarchy  and  the  crown  was  offered  to  Otto  of  Bava- 
ria, son  of  King  Lewis  I,  a  most  ardent  philhellene. 
Grecian  The  subsequent  history  of  Greece  is  a  story  of  its 

Consolidation  consolidation.  King-  Otto  made  his  formal  entry  into 
Xauplia,  the  then  capital,  on  February  7,  1833.  His 
people  were  splintered  into  factions,  barbarized  by  their 
long  guerilla  warfare;  the  country  was  even  more  dis- 
tracted by  the  machinations  of  foreign  diplomacy; 
Austria,  in  particular,  then,  as  for  the  most  part  since, 
being  more  favorable  to  the  integrity  of  Turkey  than 
to  the  establishment  of  strong  Christian  powers  on  her 
eastward  frontier.  In  1835  the  capital  was  transferred 
to  Athens;  in  1837  a  university  was  established  there, 
and  in  1841  a  national  bank  ;  in  1850  the  Greek  Church 
was  emancipated  from  control  by  the  patriarch  at  Con- 
stantinople. When  the  Crimean  War  broke  out,  in 
1853,  the  Greeks  naturally  hoped  for  an  expansion  of 
their  territories  in  Thessaly,  Macedonia,  and  Epirus, 
and  under  Greek  guidance  fires  of  rebellion  were 
kindled  in  all  three  provinces.  Great  Britain  and 
France  united  in  dispatching  a  fleet  to  the  Piraeus  with 
a  virtual  command  that  such  agitation  should  immedi- 
ately cease ;  they  were  not  ready  for  the  dismember- 
ment of  Turkey  at  the  hands  of  Russia. 

This  diplomatic  rebuff  intensified  the  feeling  of  dis- 
taste for  the  German  bureaucratic  rule  of  the  king. 
Otto,  moreover,  was  of  necessity  influenced  to  a  high 
degree  by  the  pressure  of  European  diplomacy,  while 
his  people  thought  him  utterly  indifferent  to  their 
cherished  plan  of  national  aggrandizement.  During  his 
absence  on  a  visit  to  a  remote  district  of  the  Pelopon- 
nesus, a  provisional  government  was  organized  at 
Athens  without  his  knowledge,  and  declared  the  throne 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  109 

vacant.     He  returned,  under  protest,  in   1862  to  his 
native  land. 

The  choice  of  the  people  for  the  succession  was  the 
second  son  of  Queen  Victoria,  Prince  Alfred.  But  this 
was  counter  to  the  agreement  between  the  three  pro- 
tecting powers,  and  accordingly,  in  1863,  the  Danish 
Prince  William  was  chosen,  who  ascended  the  throne 
as  George  I,  king  of  the  Hellenes,  in  1863.  Not  long 
afterward  Great  Britain  ceded  to  Greece  the  Ionian 
Isles,  but  in  spite  of  such  an  increase  of  territory,  the 
struggle  for  consolidation  and  financial  independence 
was  for  a  considerable  time  bitter  and  not  very  success- 
ful. When,  in  1866,  Crete  rose  in  rebellion,  it  obtained 
money,  arms,  and  troops  from  the  mainland.  For  three 
years  Turkey  seemed  to  hold  its  own,  and  in  1869  a 
European  conference  compelled  Greece  to  refrain  from 
further  activity;  Crete  remained  a  part  of  the  Ottoman 
empire  down  to  the  events  of  these  latest  days.  Until 
within  a  very  short  period  of  time  the  Greek  population 
showed  little  capacity  for  constitutional  government. 
Ministries  rose  and  fell  with  a  rapidity  that  indicated  a 
public  feeling  not  marked  by  self-restraint ;  and  there 
was  an  absence  of  financial  ability,  which  was  distress- 
ing and  created  great  uneasiness  throughout  Europe. 
It  was  found  necessary  to  put  Greek  finances  under 
foreign  control,  and  amid  the  ever  recurring  disorders 
in  Servia  and  at  Constantinople  Greece  showed  such 
a  lack  of  common  sense  in  its  politics  and  of  self- 
restraint  in  its  administration,  that  its  best  friends 
began  to  despair  of  its  ultimate  success. 

But  all  this  was  changed,  as  if  by  miracle,  when  the 
nation  became  aware  of  the  movements  in  Turkey, 
which  were  sure  to  result  in  so  general  a  disintegration 
of  the  Ottoman  power,  that  nothing  but  stern  discipline 


no  THE  BALKANS 

and  rigid  self-control,  calmness  amid  social  storm, 
could  enable  it  to  seize  its  opportunity  and  insure  that 
enlargement  of  the  national  borders  which  they  felt 
certain  would  result  in  national  stability. 
Social  Life  in  The  social  order  familiar  to  the  West  has  three  strata 
the  Balkans  — a  patrician  class,  a  burgher  and  farmer  class,  a  labor 
class ;  these,  at  least  in  America,  are  in  perpetual  flux, 
men  and  families  passing  easily  from  one  to  the  other. 
Although  they  have  comparatively  little  permanency, 
they  are  nevertheless  continuously  in  grinding  opposi- 
tion to  each  other,  the  victory  being  at  one  time  with 
this,  again  with  that.  It  seems  a  most  beneficent 
arrangement,  because  of  the  perpetual  vigilance,  the 
imperious  self-restraint,  the  wholesale  discipline  re- 
quired to  rise  to  and  maintain  a  position;  the  fittest 
have  every  chance,  the  unfit  find  relief  in  agitation.  In 
the  Balkans  there  is  among  the  indigenous  population 
at  any  moment,  in  any  place  except  the  largest  towns, 
not  one  of  these  social  factors;  all,  whether  farmers, 
mechanics,  traders,  or  herdsmen,  are  confused  into  one 
dead  level  of  peasantry  and  hand  labor.  Those  who 
emerge  as  popular  representatives  to  run  what  is  called 
a  constitutional  government  do  not  and  cannot  bring 
their  family  environment  with  them ;  it  is  not  suited  for 
publicity,  pure  and  simple  as  it  may  be.  Officers  of 
state  and  army  dress  and  appear  like  their  kind  else- 
where, but  the  atmosphere  of  refinement  does  not 
envelope  them  and  control  them. 

Even  the  dynasties,  which  the  masterful  people, 
through  their  chiefs  and  in  conjunction  with  the  dy- 
nastic powers,  have  mechanically  set  to  rule  over  them, 
possess  no  court  circle  in  the  proper  sense.  There  is 
no  controlling  influence  of  woman  in  her  indispensable 
role  of  social  arbiter.     Whether  a  mere  worldling  or 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  in 

noble  in  a  spiritual  aspiration,  the  Western  woman 
is  in  every  walk  of  life  an  uplifting  power  command- 
ing good  manners  and  decency,  outwardly  at  least ; 
and  obscure  immorality  is  not  so  degrading  to  the 
world  as  flaunting  vice.  Where  for  ages  the  great 
were  Moslems  and  the  harem  was  the  sphere  of  femi- 
nine activity,  while  the  Christian,  the  petty  worker, 
employed  his  women  as  beasts  of  burden,  the  totality  of 
female  eclipse  was  disastrous ;  and  the  small  folk  who 
now  compose  almost  exclusively  the  Balkan  popula- 
tions have  not  recovered  from  its  effects.  The  public 
morals  are  not  merely  without  the  regulating  checks  of 
social  influence,  but  too  often  they  exhibit  the  license  of 
a  harlotry  which  has  injected  itself  into  the  lives  of 
certain  controlling  men.  To  what  has  just  been  said 
there  are  superb  exceptions ;  but  without  mention  of  the 
humiliating  truth  that  the  Balkan  man  holds  the  Bal- 
kan woman  in  low  esteem,  everything  that  shocks  and 
grieves,  in  certain  events  which  are  notorious,  is  utterly 
incomprehensible. 

This  would  not  be  true  if  the  dynastic  influences 
were  strong  and  pure.  The  stage  of  development  which 
the  Balkan  peoples  have  reached  demands  a  person  and 
a  family  as  a  standard.  In  one  case,  at  least,  the 
influences  of  the  ruling  house  are  strong  and  impure ; 
in  another,  pure  but  weak;  in  a  third,  entirely  negative 
as  yet ;  and  only  in  one  are  they  a  combination  of 
strength  and  purity  such  as  furnishes  an  elevating 
example  to  a  peasant  folk  and  gives  them  a  rallying 
point  for  a  national  patriotism. 

George,  the  late  king  of  the  Hellenes,  was  elected 
to  his  office  December  22,  1862,  and  but  for  his  assas- 
sination would  have  celebrated  his  fifty-year  jubilee  in 
1912.     A   Danish  prince  himself,   his   queen   was  a 


ii2  THE  BALKANS 

Russian  princess.  Their  progeny  is  numerous;  both 
sons  and  daughters  have  admirable  characters;  the 
family  life  has  been  a  shining  example;  and  Constan- 
tine,  the  new  king,  a  nephew  of  Queen  Alexandra 
and  a  brother-in-law  of  Emperor  William  II,  has 
displayed  many  qualities  which  fit  him  for  his  place. 
Father  and  son  have,  in  the  main,  applied  themselves 
to  the  duties  of  their  rank  with  diligence  and  ability. 
The  government,  with  one  exceptional  moment,  later 
to  be  noticed,  has  been  constitutional ;  and  while  the 
modern  Greeks  display  much  of  the  mercurial,  tur- 
bulent temper  of  the  ancients,  yet,  nevertheless,  in  this 
half  century  important  advance  has  been  made,  partly 
by  their  mistakes,  partly  by  their  own  initiative  due 
to  bitter  lessons,  partly  under  the  tutelage  of  that 
upper  class  of  governments  we  call  the  great  powers. 
The  only  conspicuous  failure  has  been  noted.  It  is 
in  the  conduct  of  finance,  which  was  so  wasteful  that 
a  commission  of  the  public  debt,  now  established  and 
composed  of  foreigners,  became  essential. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  peace,  good  order, 
and  much  prosperity  within  the  borders  of  Greece. 
while  her  sons  without  amass  and  pour  treasures, 
great,  even  when  measured  by  Western  standards, 
into  her  educational  coffers.  Approached  from  the 
west,  Athens  disappoints  many  visitors;  but  to  those 
coming  from  the  east  and  considering  the  low  estate 
of  all  lands  once  or  now  Turkish,  the  state  both  of 
the  capital  city  and  of  the  country  as  a  whole  is 
amazing  in  what  it  is,  and  promises.  Both  army  and 
navy,  small  as  they  are,  have  been  reorganized  and 
rendered  efficient,  and  it  is  a  tribute  to  national  disci- 
pline that  the  behests  of  other  governments  which  for- 
bade   their    annexation    of    Crete    and    other    Greek 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  113 

islands  were  so  long  obeyed.  The  cries  of  the 
oppressed  wrung  the  hearts  of  their  compatriots,  but 
these  abided  their  time  with  wonderful  self-restraint, 
content  with  a  complete  reform,  in  Crete  at  least, 
under  the  guidance  of  Prince  George. 

Even  a  casual  observer  will  note  the  enormous  in- 
fluence of  Germany  in  Greece,  intellectually  and 
morally.  Greek  statesmen,  on  occasions,  when  speak- 
ing of  German  culture,  art,  and  science,  indulge  in  a  tur- 
gid rhetoric,  which  does  not  ring  sincere,  but  beneath 
the  exaggeration  of  their  language  there  is  much 
truth.  It  is  not  without  result  that  Emperor  William 
spends  part  of  every  year  in  Corfu,  that  German 
scholars  ransack  Greek  territories  in  the  interest  of 
art  and  history,  and  that  Greek  armaments  are 
modeled,  albeit  in  miniature,  upon  those  of  Germany. 
Yet  when  all  this  is  said,  it  remains  true  that  Greek 
royalty  was  in  itself  and  until  lately  rather  an  orna- 
ment than  an  indigenous  growth  on  a  national  life. 
If  the  dynasty  maintains  itself  for  a  generation  or 
two  longer,  its  influence  will  grow  stronger  in  geomet- 
rical ratio.  If  Germany  be,  next  to  the  United  States, 
the  worst  (or  best)  hated  of  the  great  nations,  efforts 
to  undermine  her  influence  and  its  supports  will  not  be 
lacking.  There  are  times  when  the  legs  of  the  throne 
have  tottered;  but  King  George  went  far  to  realize 
his  motto — "My  power  rests  on  the  love  of  my 
people." 

The  revival  of  dynastic  influence  in  Europe  is  strik- 
ing and  unmistakable.  Throughout  these  latest  wars, 
republican  France  has  been  true  to  her  traditions  of 
philhellenism  and  her  support,  moral  and  material,  has 
been  invaluable  to  Greece.  But  Constantine  was  far 
more  effusive  at  Berlin  than  at  Paris.    The  prospective 


ii4  THE  BALKANS 

heir  to  the  Rumanian  throne,  Carol,  son  of  the  crown 
prince,  has  at  twenty  years  of  age  just  been  betrothed 
to  a  Russian  grand  duchess,  while  his  sister  at  twenty- 
one  is  announced  as  the  coining  bride  of  George,  crown 
prince  of  Greece.  From  the  dynastic  point  of  view 
there  are  three  state  systems  in  Europe — Roman  Cath- 
olic, Greek  Catholic,  and  Protestant.  They  keep  fairly 
distinct,  but  Protestant  princesses  become  Greek  and 
even  Roman  Catholic  in  their  marriages,  and  a  com- 
mon interest  as  well  as  common  blood  combines  all 
three.  There  is  a  determined  effort  to  bring  dynastic 
influences  to  bear  in  uplifting  the  civilization  of  the 
Christian  Balkan  States. 


V 
II.  THE   BALKAN  NATIONS 


"5 


V 

II.       THE   BALKAN    NATIONS 

"Great  Ideas/'  we  repeat,  play  an  almost  determi-  The  Russian 
native  role  in  Eastern  Europe.  The  "great  idea"  of  Idea 
Russia  demands  for  her  the  successorship  to  Byzan- 
tium, ecclesiastically  as  well  as  politically.  Her  cher- 
ished passion  for  the  acquisition  of  Constantinople  is 
not  merely  economic,  but  sentimental  and  religious. 
Being  the  foremost  Slavic  nation,  her  Byzantium  would 
be  Slavic.  She  has  therefore  always  had  a  double 
aversion — that  to  Turkey,  of  which  such  frequent 
mention  has  been  made,  but  likewise,  as  emerges  from 
the  various  considerations  presented  in  these  pages, 
to  Greece  and  the  Greeks  as  well  as  to  Rumania  and 
the  Rumanians. 

Both  these  peoples  have  an  enormous  admixture 
of  Slavic  blood  in  their  veins,  but  neither  has  Slavic 
aspirations;  those  of  Rumania  are  Latin  and  Roman, 
those  of  Greece,  Byzantine  and  Greek.  There  is  no 
question  more  acute  in  that  part  of  the  world  than 
the  degree  of  influence  which  Russia  exerts,  and  is 
to  exert,  either  by  an  appeal  to  kinship,  or  by  diplo- 
macy, or  by  secret  agitations,  or  by  open  warfare 
upon  the  various  countries  of  Eastern  Europe.  To  a 
high  degree  the  Treaty  of  Kutschuk-Kainardje  (1774) 
long  remained  a  public  charter  in  the  Hither  East.  It 
established  Russia  not  merely  as  the  protector  of 
the  Danubian  principalities,  but,  what  was  far 
more  important,  of  all  the  Greek  Christians  in  the 
Ottoman  empire.      Somewhat   later  the  great  Cath- 

117 


n8  THE  BALKANS 

arine  of  Russia  and  the  enlightened  Joseph  of  Austria 
joined  hands  to  realize  immediately  the  establishment 
of  a  new  Byzantium  with  Catharine's  grandson,  Con- 
stantine,  as  the  ruling  monarch.  Austria  was  to  have 
Bosnia  and  Servia;  Russia  the  Crimea  and  Otchakoff; 
the  Danubian  principalities  were  to  have  a  real  inde- 
pendence under  an  orthodox  ruler. 

Throughout  the  Napoleonic  epoch  Russia  and 
Austria  were  otherwise  engaged,  and  for  Turkey  in 
Europe  the  period  was  one  of  disintegration  and  decay. 
Robber  chieftains  ravaged  its  territories  at  will  and 
established  virtually  independent  powers  in  its  princi- 
pal towns.  One  of  these,  a  Bosnian  Mohammedan, 
Osman  Pasvanoglu,  collected  so  many  Turks,  Bul- 
garians, and  Albanians  about  his  standard  that  he 
even  threatened  to  overthrow  the  Sultan.  His  star 
rose  ever  higher  until  1806,  and  his  devastating  con- 
quests extended  across  the  Danube  into  Wallachia. 
It  was  Russia  who  crushed  him  and  thus  further 
strengthened  her  influence  in  the  principalities.  It 
may  be  said  that  Wallachia  was  substantially  a  Rus- 
sian province  as  late  as  1812,  and  that  in  Moldavia, 
Austria,  preponderant  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century  because  of  her  relations  with  the  Porte,  was 
compelled  to  withdraw  from  both  the  Bukowina  and 
the  Dobrudja  before  the  combined  assaults  of  Russia 
and  the  Servians  in  18 10.  What  might  have  happened 
may  be  guessed;  but  when  Napoleon  began  his 
preparations  for  his  march  on  Moscow,  Russia  made 
speedy  terms  with  her  foes  in  the  peace  of  Bucharest, 
181 2,  securing  the  fertile  and  splendid  province  of 
Bessarabia.  Servia  obtained  from  Turkey  amnesty 
for  her  rebels  and  the  right  at  least  to  local  self- 
government. 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  119 

These  facts  explain  the  enormous  influence  of  Russia 
in  both  the  Danubian  principalities,  and  what  has 
previously  been  said  of  the  Greek  uprising  makes  clear 
that  the  Porte  could  no  longer  intrust  the  adminis- 
tration of  those  districts  to  Phanariote  voivodes.  In 
1822  Ghika  was  made  chief  administrator  of  Wal- 
lachia,  and  Sturdza  of  Moldavia.  Both  were  able 
men  and  conscientious ;  both  made  Herculean  efforts 
to  introduce  necessary  reforms  and  improve  in  every 
respect  the  condition  of  the  populations ;  but  Russia 
looked  on  with  deep  concern,  fearing  the  rise  of  an 
independent  national  feeling  within  two  provinces  con- 
taining a  people  so  closely  related,  if  not  in  language, 
at  least  in  institutions  and  interests.  She  could  not 
contemplate  the  aggregation  on  her  frontiers  of  even 
moderate  forces  unsympathetic  with  her  ambitions. 
Until  1833  the  real  ruler  of  both  principalities  was  the 
Russian  general,  Kisseleff,  commander  of  the  protect- 
ing Russian  forces,  who  actually  promulgated  a  sort  of 
liberal  charter,  although  the  nominal  suzerainty  was 
still  in  the  Porte.  It  was  by  his  influence  that  both 
Ghika  and  Sturdza  lost  all  hold  upon  their  place  and 
all  their  influence  upon  the  people.  When  the  insurrec- 
tion sympathetic  with  Greek  movements  broke  out, 
Turkish  and  Russian  troops  combined  to  suppress  it. 
By  1849  the  old  conditions  were  virtually  restored; 
in  both  principalities  new  voivodes  were  inaugurated, 
and  for  a  space  of  four  years  their  efforts  to  relieve 
the  general  misery  of  the  people  met  with  fair  success. 

But  when  in  1853  the  operations  of  the  Crimean  Birth  of 
War  began,  Russia  overran  and  temporarily  adminis-  Rumania 
tered  both  principalities;  and  in  1854  the  Austrians 
beset  them  in  order  to  prevent  Russia's  advance  upon 
the  Balkans.     By  the  treaty  of  Paris    (1856)   both 


120  THE  BALKANS 

were  again  restored  to  Turkish  suzerainty  and  placed 
under  the  protection  of  the  great  powers.  Both  re- 
ceived new  rulers,  and  at  last  it  dawned  upon  the 
inhabitants  of  both  that  in  their  union  there  might  be 
some  degree  of  security  and  some  hope  of  peace.  So 
overwhelming  was  the  tide  of  feeling  that  it  could  not 
be  restrained,  and  on  February  17,  1859,  a  national 
assembly  of  Wallachians  elected  as  their  prince 
Alexander  Cousa,  who  had  already  been  chosen  by  a 
similar  assembly  to  be  Prince  of  Moldavia,  thus  creat- 
ing the  embryo  of  a  new  kingdom. 

Napoleon  III,  contemplating  war  with  Austria  to 
emancipate  Italy  and  to  maintain  the  balance  of  power 
in  Western  Europe,  discerned  in  this  newborn  "Latin" 
land  of  Rumania  a  possible  ally,  and  by  his  influence 
the  Sultan  Abdul  Medjid,  on  December  2,  1861, 
acknowledged  Cousa  as  Alexander  John  I,  Sovereign 
Prince  of  Rumania.  Once  again  Russian  influence 
attempted  to  thwart  the  creation  of  a  Rumanian 
nationality,  being  exerted  through  the  channel  of  great 
Russian  landowners  in  both  principalities,  the  boyars, 
who  intervened  and  meddled  with  internal  affairs  at 
every  possible  juncture.  On  May  14,  1864,  Cousa, 
keenly  alive  to  the  procedures  of  French  politics, 
organized  his  own  coup  d'etat  and  promulgated  a 
Napoleonic  constitution  providing  for  two  chambers. 
He  had  been  so  faithful  to  the  best  interests  of  his 
realm  that  he  enjoyed  an  almost  boundless  popularity. 
His  success  was  therefore  apparently  complete,  and 
the  new  administration  was  set  going  in  all  its  depart- 
ments.     , 

But  nature  proved  an  implacable  enemy  to  his  plan 
of  reform.  In  1865  the  harvests  failed  completely, 
and  this,  in  a  country  almost  purely  agricultural,  meant 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  121 

famine.  The  introduction  of  the  new  system,  though 
far  from  finished,  had  already  cost  enormous  sums, 
and  financial  embarrassment  intensified  the  general 
wretchedness.  A  conspiracy  was  formed,  which,  on 
the  twenty-second  of  February,  by  the  aid  of  the 
army,  forced  his  resignation,  and  a  provisional  gov- 
ernment immediately  offered  the  throne  to  Philip  of 
Flanders,  brother  of  the  king  of  Belgium.  That 
prince  fortunately  declined;  and  on  April  14,  1866, 
the  second  choice  fell  upon  Prince  Charles  of  Hohen- 
zollern-Sigmaringen,  a  choice  bitterly  distasteful  to 
both  Austria  and  France.  But  Charles  was  fearless 
and  did  not  hesitate  to  accept  a  very  difficult  and 
onerous  task,  especially  for  a  German  prince — that 
of  upbuilding  a  would-be  Latin  state  of  no  great  size 
in  population  or  extent  of  territory,  in  the  very  heart 
of  hostile  Slavic  populations,  and  with  the  moral 
support  of  but  a  single  great  European  power.  As 
Carol  I,  he  has  piloted  his  ship  of  state  through 
many  devious  channels  and  through  many  devastating 
storms,  and  has  somehow  managed  to  create  both 
in  his  people  and  in  other  lands  the  firm  conviction 
that  Rumanian  nationality  is  viable. 

Moreover,  the  moral  support  of  Germany  must 
necessarily  be  of  a  very  uncertain  sort,  for  while  dy- 
nastic politics  still  play  their  part  in  Europe,  as  we 
have  said,  yet  it  is,  in  this  case,  a  very  minor  one  in- 
deed. When  it  is  considered  how  very  distant  is  the 
relationship  between  the  German  emperor  and  the 
Rumanian  king,  it  will  be  seen  that  Germany's  interest 
in  Rumania,  if  based  upon  that  alone,  would  be  purely 
sentimental.  The  Rumanian  nation  boasts  an  origin 
far  different  from  that  of  the  Germans. 

This  question  of  their  origin  appears,  even  in  the 


122  THE  BALKANS 

Rumanian         light  of  the  latest  investigations,  to  be  insoluble.    They 
Origins  have  a  very  definite  theory  as  to  who  they  are  and 

whence  they  came,  but  the  cold  light  of  science  shows 
gaps  in  their  reasoning;  indeed,  is  seems  to  show  that 
the  foundation  is  unsafe.  It  is  an  accepted  principle 
among  ethnographers  that  language  is  a  will-o'-the 
wisp  in  their  prehistoric  investigations,  unless  used 
merely  as  confirmatory  evidence.  Their  own  con- 
viction, to  wit,  that  they  are  the  direct  descendants 
of  Roman  legionaries  and  of  the  Coloni  of  old  Dacia 
Trajana,  is  untenable.  In  the  first  place,  Vopiscus 
declares  that  Aurelian  withdrew  the  Roman  soldiery 
across  the  Danube  out  of  old  Dacia,  and  abandoned 
the  province;  in  the  second  place,  there  is  a  period 
of  a  thousand  years,  which  furnishes  no  evidence  that 
Roman  Coloni  existed  north  of  the  Danube  at  all; 
finally,  place  names  are  the  most  persistent  archaeo- 
logical records  and  of  Rumanian  place  names, 
virtually  none  are  of  Latin  origin.  The  great  weight 
of  authority  is  for  regarding  the  present  population  as 
a  back  surge  from  Dacia  Aureliana  (Bulgaria  and 
Servia)  occurring  toward  the  end  of  the  twelfth 
century.  Stated  in  another  way,  the  Rumanians  may 
have  had  an  original  ancestry  of  Romanized  Thra- 
cians,  which,  in  time,  absorbed  from  the  Slovenians 
so  much  of  their  speech  and  their  blood  that  they 
became  more  than  half  Slavs.  For  this  there  is  very 
considerable  evidence  in  their  folklore  and  folk 
poetry,  which,  according  to  Emil  Fischer,  an  ethnolo- 
gist, who  lives  and  works  among  them,  displays  both 
Slavic  and  Romance  temperament.  He  finds  alike 
the  wild  passion  and  brooding  melancholy  of  the  true 
Slav  commingled  in  almost  equal  proportions  with  the 
Roman's  sound,  yet  sensitive  grasp  on  reality. 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  123 

We  have  thus  briefly  resumed  what  was  said  in 
another  connection  in  order  to  explain  why  Rumania 
has  no  overpowering,  all-mastering  ambition  like  those 
of  Greece,  Bulgaria,  and  Servia.  Of  course,  they  have 
most  serious  problems  of  their  own.  A  large  pro- 
portion of  their  kinsfolk  reside  across  the  Carpa- 
thians in  Hungarian  lands,  where  they  are  ruthlessly 
Magyarized.  They  are  bitterly  discontented  that 
Russia  forced  upon  them  the  exchange  of  fertile  Bes- 
sarabia for  the  swampy,  dreary  Dobrudja. 

Rumania  has  been  at  peace  since  1877.  Their  share  Rumania 
in  the  Russian-Turkish  war  forms  the  most  brilliant  "* War 
chapter  of  their  history.  Already,  out  of  the  most  un- 
promising material,  the  Hohenzollern  prince  had 
created  an  excellent  army.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
war  the  nation  was  between  two  fires;  the  Turks  still 
regarded  both  provinces  as  vassal  states;  the  Rus- 
sians looked  upon  Rumanians  as  their  natural  auxili- 
aries. The  choice  between  the  two  interests  was  far 
from  easy.  The  friendship  of  Russia  was  by  no 
means  unselfish.  She  had  deliberately  selected  Ru- 
mania's territory  as  the  scene  of  her  impending  con- 
flict with  Turkey.  It  was  the  firm  conviction  of  most 
Rumanians  that  their  ultimate  doom  was  annexation 
to  the  dreaded  empire  of  the  north,  and,  in  particular, 
they  were  well  aware  that  one  of  their  most  cherished 
possessions,  Bessarabia,  was  to  Russia  a  Naboth's 
vineyard.  Accordingly,  a  convention  was  negotiated, 
permitting  the  Russian  armies  to  pass,  with  guarantee 
that  no  unfriendly  act  should  be  committed  by  the 
way. 

The  marching  officers  were  keen  observers,  and 
noted,  with  some  dismay,  the  enormous  increase  of 
Rumania's  military  strength  during  the  eleven  years 


i24  THE  BALKANS 

of  the  new  administration.  Of  incorporating  such  a 
force  under  their  own  command  there  could  be  no 
question.  The  Hohenzollern  prince  held  himself  ready 
for  the  event,  whatever  it  might  be,  unhindered  and 
uncontrolled  by  either  belligerent.  The  Russians  had 
met  with  a  stubborn  and  unexpected  resistance  on  their 
march  toward  Constantinople,  and  at  Plevna  they 
found  themselves  in  a  desperate  plight.  On  August  5, 
1877,  the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas,  grasping  at  the  last 
straw,  telegraphed  Prince  Charles:  "Come  to  our 
help;  cross  the  Danube  where  you  choose,  under  any 
conditions  you  care  to  make,  but  come  and  come 
quickly;  we  are  surrounded  by  the  Turks."  With 
thirty-five  thousand  admirably  equipped  and  well- 
disciplined  men,  and  a  hundred  and  eight  efficient 
cannons,  the  Rumanians  advanced  victoriously  through 
Calif atu,  Nikopolis,  Rahoba,  and  Smordanu.  Before 
Plevna,  Prince  Charles  and  his  men  distinguished 
themselves  in  the  storm  of  its  most  powerful  fort,  de- 
termined the  final  outcome  of  the  great  struggle,  and 
actually  captured  Osman  Pasha,  the  Turkish  com- 
mander-in-chief. These  successes  were,  of  course, 
bought  at  an  immense  cost  of  life  and  property,  but 
the  price  did  not  seem  too  high  for  the  glory  that  had 
been  won  and  its  effect  in  consolidating  the  Rumanian 
nation;  but  when  peace  was  dictated  at  San  Stefano, 
and  when  later  the  plenipotentiaries  met  in  Berlin, 
Rumania's  reward  was  only  the  measure  of  the  con- 
tempt which  Russia  felt  for  her.  Her  sovereignty 
obtained  recognition,  but  she  lost  her  most  pleasant 
and  valuable  province.  For  this  the  compensation 
of  the  worthless  Dobrudja  was  an  insult. 

This  painful  experience  was  stamped  with  European 
approval  in   the  capital  of  Germany.     By   this  time 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  125 

Charles  and  his  poetess  consort,  now  king  and  queen 
of  an  independent  state,  had  made  themselves  type 
Rumanians;  they  had  organized  a  modest  court,  the 
influence  of  which  has  always  been  profound  and  be- 
neficent. The  monarch  had  performed  the  double 
task  of  discovering  the  deeply  hidden  wellsprings  of 
national  life  among  his  subjects  and  of  developing 
them  into  a  vigorous  stream  of  national  activities. 

This    new    nation,    emphasizing    its    Latin    origins,    Social  and 
began,  as  if  in  defiance  both  of  Slavic  and  Germanic  Economic 

culture,  to  cultivate  more  than  ever  the  Latin  style.   AsPects 
T  .   ,  ....  ...  of  Rumania 

Its  social  organization  is,  of  course,  aristocratic,  since 

the  great  landowners  have  at  least  the  dignity  belong- 
ing to  large  estates,  yet  democratic  Paris  is  the  Mecca 
of  its  pilgrimages,  and  the  French  manner  reigns  su- 
preme at  Bucharest,  whether  in  army,  in  society,  or  in 
literature  and  art. 

The  capital  city  has  three  recognizable  rings  of 
growth  :  the  outer  is  mean,  rural,  rough,  and  somewhat 
Turkish  even  now ;  the  next  is  an  interesting  transition 
toward  a  higher  style  of  life;  and  the  inner  nucleus  is 
a  small  "city  of  light,"  like  its  exemplar — startling  in 
its  beauty,  style,  and  brilliancy.  In  this  constitution  of 
its  parts  Bucharest  is  a  microcosm  of  the  country  as  a 
whole;  at  first  sight  unorganized,  disconnected,  a 
mechanical  mixture  of  unrelated  parts.  But  this,  when 
closely  considered,  is  in  itself  a  characteristic  quality; 
a  long  soaking  of  the  refractory  materials  is  required 
before  disintegration  sets  in,  or  reintegration  can 
commence.  Yet  the  integration  is  there.  This  fact  is 
largely  the  work  of  a  government  making  and  admin- 
istering laws  adapted  to  the  conditions  of  its  people, 
establishing  and  conducting  a  system  of  education 
quite  above  the  average  of  Eastern  Europe;  ruling 


126  THE  BALKANS 

firmly  very  disparate  populations;  showing  a  brave 
front  to  its  mighty  neighbor  on  the  north  and  its 
restless  rival  on  the  south ;  content  with  the  nationality 
in  sight,  and  eschewing  the  general  Balkan  tendency 
of  dwelling  mainly  on  the  grandeur  of  a  past,  some- 
how to  be  reproduced  in  a  visionary,  dreamy  future. 

Under  the  most  discouraging  conditions,  and  from 
beginnings  which  were  the  most  unpromising  possible, 
the  court,  the  aristocracy,  and  the  administration  of 
Rumania  have  already  met  and  solved  many  problems 
which  appeared  to  be  insoluble.  It  seems  likely  that 
even  the  two  most  pressing  and  terrific  questions  de- 
manding an  answer  will  sooner  or  later  find  one : 
that  of  land  tenure  and  that  of  the  reactionary  Jew 
usurer — questions  which  are  a  menace  to  the  cohesion 
of  national  elements,  which  are  a  riddle  to  Western 
minds  judging  a  far-off  land  from  the  standpoint  of 
Western  civilization,  questions  which  must  be  examined 
on  the  spot  to  have  even  a  glimpse  of  their  meaning 
revealed.  The  relations  between  a  brutalized  peas- 
antry and  the  rather  overrented  absentee  landlords 
are  so  strained  as  at  times  to  threaten  all  orderly 
living  throughout  the  kingdom.  The  Jew  usurer  is 
a  parasite  of  terrible  energy,  threatening,  in  hundreds 
of  communities,  the  utter  extinction  of  enterprise  and 
energy  among  the  populations. 
Bulgarian  The  most  recent  events  have  focused  the  attention 

Beginnings  0f  an  Western  peoples  upon  Bulgaria.  At  the  end  of 
the  twelfth  and  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century 
of  our  era  Bulgaria  enjoyed  a  short  period  of  inde- 
pendence, but  by  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  it 
was  a  Servian  who  was  Czar  of  the  Bulgars.  In  close 
alliance,  the  Serbs  and  Bulgars  joined  Charles  I  of 
Anjou,  for  the  overthrow  of  Byzantium.     Soon  after 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  127 

there  was  a  fresh  migration  of  Tatars  into  Bulgarian 
lands,  and  before  their  assaults,  the  enfeebled  Bulgaria 
was  crushed.  As  far  as  there  was  a  Slavic  organiza- 
tion in  the  peninsula,  Servia  now  assumed  and  kept 
the  hegemony,  until  at  last  all  semblance  of  Bulgarian 
power  disappeared  before  the  crushing  victories  of 
Sultan  Murad.  As  was  previously  related,  there 
seemed  for  centuries  to  be  no  Bulgarians,  and  least 
of  all  a  Bulgaria.  Longer  than  any  other  ethnic  stock 
they  groaned  under  the  oppression  of  the  Turkish 
yoke.  The  first  symptom  of  reviving  spirit  may  be 
observed  in  their  literature.  As  early  as  the  first 
quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  Bulgarian  schools 
began  to  reappear.  They  were  supplied  by  the  efforts 
of  Bulgarian  merchants  in  foreign  lands  with  fairly 
good  textbooks.  Then  came  the  author,  previously 
mentioned,  who  wrote  what  purported  to  be  a  Bulga- 
rian history.  In  1844  there  appeared  the  first 
Bulgarian  periodical.  From  beginning  to  end,  this 
intellectual  uprising  was  directed  against  the  Pha- 
nariotes  and  the  aspirations  of  the  panhellenists. 

On  Easter  Day,  i860,  the  Bulgarians  resident  in  Religious 
Constantinople  summoned  sufficient  courage  to  commit  Secession 
a  daring  act,  and  declared  the  secession  of  the  Bulgarian 
Church  from  the  control  of  the  Greek  patriarchate. 
So  terrified  were  these  ecclesiastical  rebels  by  their  own 
daring  that  a  large  number  of  Bulgarians  actually  con- 
templated union  with  the  Roman  Church.  It  was  soon 
evident,  however,  that  they  could  not  carry  the  mass 
of  their  people  with  them.  Already  the  Pope  had 
named  an  archbishop  for  the  united  Bulgarian  Church, 
but  his  life  was  not  safe  from  the  moment  he  began 
his  activities,  and  he  finally  fled.  So  extensive  were 
these   disturbances  that   on  February   28,    1870,   the 


128 


THE  BALKANS 


Accession 
and  Reign  of 
Alexander 


Porte  intervened,  and  founded  the  Bulgarian  exarchate, 
whose  high  priest  was  to  be  chosen  by  the  people  and 
confirmed  by  the  Sultan.  Ecclesiastical  was  to  be 
followed  by  civil  and  political  independence. 

What  with  the  decline  and  fall  of  Turkey,  the  con- 
flicting ambitions  of  Russia  and  Austria-Hungary, 
Bulgarian  aspirations  were  conditioned  almost  com- 
pletely by  intrinsic  affairs.  At  the  outset  the  pres- 
sure of  Russia  upon  and  her  influence  in  the 
territories  where  Bulgarians  lived  were  paramount. 
It  was  really  by  her  impulse  that  on  April  29.  1879,  a 
national  assembly  of  Bulgarians  declared  a  conditional 
and  partial  independence,  the  establishment  of  a  princi- 
pality, and  chose  a  nephew  of  the  Russian  Czar, 
Prince  Alexander  of  Battenberg,  to  be  the  first  oc- 
cupant of  the  princely  throne.  His  seat  was  so  uneasy, 
party  strife  was  so  savage,  the  general  temper  of 
factions  so  uncertain,  that  on  May  9,  1881,  the  prince 
declared  he  would  abandon  his  task,  were  he  not 
endowed  with  extraordinary  powers  for  the  creation 
of  an  orderly  government.  Two  months  later  his  con- 
ditions were  accepted  by  the  assembly. 

It  was  immediately  manifest  that  Russia's  intention 
was  gradually  to  turn  Bulgaria  into  a  province  of  her 
own.  The  storms  of  factional  politics  raged  more 
fiercely  than  ever,  and  amid  them  there  appeared  the 
beginnings  of  two  real  parties,  radical  and  conser- 
vative. Under  a  radical  ministry  there  was  organized 
among  an  intoxicated  and  overelated  population  the 
Pan-Bulgarian  agitation,  whose  workings  have  in  this 
latest  struggle  proven  so  disastrous  to  the  normal 
evolution  of  a  Bulgarian  nation.  This  movement,  of 
course,  aimed  primarily  at  the  immediate  incorporation 
of  all  East  Rumelia,  which  was  peopled  by  Bulgarians 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  129 

almost  exclusively,  and  also  of  Macedonia,  in  part  at 
least,  into  the  rising  Bulgarian  kingdom.  It  was  so 
far  successful  that  in  1885  the  Bulgarians  of  East 
Rumelia  rose.  Alexander  appeared  at  Philippopolis, 
and  declared  the  union  of  the  province  with  Bulgaria 
proper. 

It  has  never  been  clear  how  far  Russia  shared  in 
these  movements,  nor  how  she  viewed  an  evolution 
over  which  she  had  but  little  control ;  but  the  neighbor 
state  of  Servia  saw  in  them  a  menace  to  the  Balkan 
balance  of  power,  and  divined,  what  was  the  truth, 
that  Bulgarian  ambitions  aimed  at  the  immediate 
hegemony  of  the  whole  peninsula.  Accordingly,  the 
worthless  Servian  King  Milan  declared  war,  and 
within  a  fortnight  saw  his  forces,  if  not  annihilated, 
at  least  utterly  humiliated.  Austria  intervened,  and  a 
peace  was  signed  at  Bucharest  on  March  3,  1886, 
which  virtually  restored  the  status  quo  ante,  except 
that  Alexander  was  appointed  governor-general  of 
East  Rumelia.  The  personality  of  Prince  Alexander 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  conciliatory,  and  he  was 
a  foreigner,  representative  at  that,  as  many  Bulgarians 
felt  in  their  newly  awakened  national  consciousness, 
of  Russian  influence  aiming  to  thwart  their  ulterior 
ambitions.  In  the  night  of  August  20,  1886,  the 
Konak,  or  residence,  of  the  prince  was  surrounded  by 
Bulgarian  soldiers,  under  the  command  of  the  highest 
Bulgarian  officers,  and  Alexander  was  escorted,  with- 
out ceremony,  into  Russian  territory,  whence  later  he 
was  permitted  to  make  his  way  to  Lemberg,  in  Aus- 
trian Poland.  Such  a  ruler  was  a  broken  reed,  and 
though  another  Bulgarian  party  gained  the  overhand 
and  sought  to  recall  him,  yet  Russia  felt  him  to  be  a 
weak  support,  and  on  the  seventh  of  September  he 


130 


THE  BALKANS 


Accession 
and  Reign  of 
Ferdinand 


abdicated  finally.  The  national  assembly  chose  Prince 
Waldemar  of  Denmark  for  the  succession  on  Septem- 
ber the  seventh,  but  he  had  no  inclination  for  the  task 
set  before  him,  and  politely  refused  the  invitation. 

The  house  of  Saxe  Coburg  has  had  a  wonderful 
history,  furnishing,  as  it  did,  from  its  insignificant 
political  power,  a  series  of  most  successful  royalties. 
Kings  and  empresses,  princes  of  the  highest  degree,  its 
leading  members,  have  cherished  boundless  ambition, 
and  their  ambitions  have  been  realized  by  the  use  of 
their  abundant  private  wealth  and  the  exercise  of  their 
daring  characteristics.  It  was  to  one  of  these,  Prince 
Ferdinand,  that  Bulgaria  now  turned.  The  national 
assembly  offered  to  him  the  reversion  of  their  little 
throne,  and  on  July  7,  1887,  he  entered  upon  the  per- 
formance of  his  duties. 

From  among  the  peasant  people  had  arisen  a  man 
endowed  with  great  political  insight,  whose  name 
was  Stambuloff.  To  him  Russian  interference  was 
intolerable ;  he  desired  complete  independence  for  his 
country;  he  realized  that  the  national  evolution  must 
be  slow  and  self-disciplined ;  and  it  was  under  his 
leadership  that  Prince  Ferdinand  began  to  reign,  and, 
indeed,  to  rule,  as  far  as  Stambuloff's  policies  were  his 
own.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  from  first  to  last 
we  have  been  dealing  with  peoples  who  have  barely 
entered  upon  the  highroad  of  civilization.  Whatever 
may  be  thought  of  Russian  standards  in  the  conduct 
of  foreign  affairs  and  in  the  administration  of  internal 
ones,  no  one  can  deny  that  for  the  furtherance  of  her 
plans  she  has  never  hesitated  to  adopt  whatever 
methods  seemed  expedient  and  efficient  among  those 
she  desired  to  influence.  Stambuloff  was  assassinated 
on  July  15,  1895,  and  immediately  Prince  Ferdinand, 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  131 

forced,  as  he  believed,  to  adopt  an  opportunist  policy, 
entered  into  more  friendly  relations  with  Saint  Peters- 
burg. He  has  been  permitted  to  consolidate  the  two 
portions  of  Bulgaria,  to  have  himself  crowned  Czar  of 
the  Bulgarians  in  their  ancient  capital  city,  and  while 
his  day  as  Bulgarian  king  has  been  brief,  yet  he  has 
exhibited  certain  very  remarkable  qualities. 

The  court  at  Sophia  seems  to  exert  but  little  power  court  and 
in  securing  widespread  and  permeating  influences  of  People 
refinement  throughout  the  country  at  large.  This  is 
no  reflection  upon  its  members,  for  the  Bulgarians  are 
an  obdurate  folk,  a  peasant  people  with  peasant  faults 
and  peasant  virtues.  Turbulent  scenes  occur  in  their 
national  assembly,  and  frequently  arouse  a  suspicion 
elsewhere  that  government  is  insecure.  They  are, 
however,  not  much  worse,  though  perhaps  more  fre- 
quent, than  those  which  occur  in  the  great  capitals  of 
the  Western  world,  at  Westminster  or  in  Washington, 
not  to  mention  Paris  or  Vienna.  The  Bulgarians  are 
a  testy  folk,  quick  to  cry  out,  quick  to  act;  the  influ- 
ence of  American  ideas  in  Bulgaria  has  been  and  re- 
mains enormous,  thanks  to  the  American  seats  of 
learning  on  the  Bosporus.  As  might  be  expected, 
these  ideas  have  been  exaggerated  and  warped  until 
Bulgarian  notions  of  liberty,  rights,  and  equality  are 
often  grotesque.  No  wonder!  Liberty  under  the 
severe  restraint  of  law  is  not  an  initial,  but  a  final  state 
of  mind  in  free  government.  The  best-informed  out- 
siders, however,  believe  and  say  that,  on  the  whole, 
the  dynasty  suits  the  people  over  whom  it  reigns ;  that 
the  court  in  the  main  sets  a  good  example;  that  if  the 
father  may  not  be  a  devoted  and  devout  Greek  Cath- 
olic of  the  national  church,  the  son  and  heir-apparent 
Boris  is;  that  careful  consideration  is  shown  for  the 


i32  THE  BALKANS 

Bulgarian  temper;  that  the  constitutional  development 
of  politics  is  not  hindered  by  the  meddling  of  the  ex- 
ecutive to  any  important  degree. 
Sophia  If  Bucharest  be  a  type  of  Rumania,  Sophia  is  no  less 

so  of  Bulgaria.  There  is  a  palace,  and  there  are  other 
solid  buildings,  also  a  few  modern  streets;  but  the 
city  has  no  pronounced  architectural  type.  There  are 
great  avenues  and  an  extended  network  of  street-car 
lines;  but  the  promise  is  greater  than  the  fulfillment. 
There  is  an  old,  unkempt  Turkish  district  not  yet  de- 
stroyed ;  there  are  gypsies  squatted  in  unsavory  settle- 
ments on  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  and  these  exhibit 
their  unspeakable  squalor  without  shame  in  the  thor- 
oughfares. 

Sophia  is  a  city  of  the  future.  It  was  not  without 
regard  to  the  future  that  it  was  chosen  to  be  the  capital, 
for  its  site  is  not  far  distant  from  the  then  existing 
southern  frontier :  in  order  to  be  central,  Macedonia  in 
great  part  was  to  be  secured.  It  is  but  a  short  time 
since  the  future  seemed  near.  The  process  of  trans- 
formation went  swiftly  forward,  alike  as  to  the  per- 
sonalities of  the  Bulgarian  people,  their  institutions, 
and  their  material  expression  in  dress  and  housing. 
Nowhere  in  the  Balkan  peninsula  is  the  visitor  so 
tempted  to  feel  that  he  is  in  the  laboratory  of  history, 
where  experiments  are  being  made,  some  with,  some 
without,  success.  Of  other  Bulgarian  towns  so  much 
cannot  be  said;  they  remain  strangely  quiescent  in  the 
rudeness  to  which  Turkish  rule  reduced  them.  In 
spite  of  the  latest  events,  it  must  be  admitted  that  of  all 
the  Balkan  armies,  the  Bulgarian  was  and  is  the  best  in 
organization,  morale,  and  personnel;  and  where  there 
are  garrisons  improvement  in  the  towns  is  notice- 
able. 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  133 

The  frightful  humiliations  to  which  in  the  early  sum- 
mer of  1913  both  nation  and  army  were  subjected 
have  been  due  to  a  type  of  insubordination  which 
might  perhaps  be  expected  in  so  young  a  country ;  the 
insubordination,  namely,  of  a  prime  minister  and  a 
commander-in-chief  to  the  plain  dictates  of  common 
sense;  their  feeble  yielding  to  a  vague  and  lurid 
national  ambition,  and  their  adoption  in  warfare  of 
a  brutal  and  barbaric  system  of  retaliatory  cruelties, 
which,  it  must  be  confessed,  had  largely  been  evolved 
by  the  three  sets  of  Bulgarian,  Servian,  and  Greek 
komitadjis  active  for  so  many  years  in  the  dis- 
graceful horrors  which  have  given  Macedonia  so 
sad  a  renown.  Throughout  the  country  generally 
the  life  of  the  people  is  the  life  of  well-tilled 
fields  and  simple,  peaceful  villages.  Education  of  the 
common  sort  is  only  fair;  that  of  the  higher  type  is 
scarcely  more  than  embryonic.  The  fine  designations 
of  the  Western  world  are  used  for  their  institutions  of 
learning,  but  they  do  not  connote  even  approximately 
the  same  things.  The  sum  of  the  whole  matter  is  that 
Bulgaria,  though  a  child  in  its  qualities,  often  very 
naughty,  and  as  yet  with  little  discipline,  would  be  a 
very  fine  child  indeed  and  full  of  promise  if  it  could 
only  rub  its  eyes  and  see  distinctly  how  wild  has  been 
its  cherished  ideal,  the  "Great  Idea"  of  the  Greater 
Bulgaria. 

The  first  of  the  nationalities  whose  territories  The  Rise  of 
were  overrun  by  Turkey  successfully  to  emancipate  Servia 
itself  from  Turkish  rule  was,  of  course,  Hungary. 
The  story  of  the  struggle  is  a  curious  one.  Sometimes 
the  resistance  was  well  organized  and  determined ;  at 
others  there  existed  between  conquered  and  conquerors 
a  kind  of  half-armed  peace,  some  districts  rejoicing  in 


i34  THE  BALKANS 

their  native  rulers,  while  their  immediate  neighbors 
endured  Turkish  administration  as  best  they  might. 
When  the  long  struggle  ended,  the  recognized  boun- 
dary of  Turkey  in  Europe  to  the  westward  was  the 
river  Save.  Where  that  splendid  river  unites  its  flood 
with  the  still  more  majestic  Danube  lay  the  great  fron- 
tier fortress  of  Belgrade.  The  great  bluff  upon  which 
it  stands  lent  itself  completely  in  the  days  of  rather 
primitive  warfare  to  the  erection  of  a  well-nigh  im- 
pregnable fortress,  comparable  in  the  splendor  of  its 
situation  only  with  that  of  Quebec.  Behind  this  lay 
the  land  of  Servia,  inhabited  by  people  more  typically 
south  Slav  than  any  others;  though  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity under  Cyril  and  Methodius,  their  civil  institu- 
tions had  not  materially  changed  since  the  primitive 
days  of  heathendom.  The  separate  clans  had  each  a 
patriarchal  government,  being  ruled  according  to  the 
law  of  seniority,  struggling  perpetually  for  supremacy 
one  with  the  other,  until  at  last  a  certain  Stephen  estab- 
lished a  type  of  monarchy  known  in  their  tongue  as 
the  Zupanate.  By  the  vote  of  heads  of  families,  one 
was  chosen  as  the  first  among  equals,  to  coordinate, 
control,  and  defend  the  common  interests  of  the  larger 
community.  These  elder  stocks  have  often  been 
called  an  aristocracy,  but  they  were  not  in  the  modern 
sense  of  the  term.  The  monarchy  itself  was  only 
nominal,  since  the  limitations  put  upon  it  by  the  many 
peasant  proprietors,  speaking  for  their  respective  com- 
munes, reduced  it  in  time  of  peace  to  substantial  in- 
activity. 

In  the  thirteenth  century  the  Servian  Church  was 
still  controlled  by  a  Roman  archbishop.  It  was  the 
same  Stephen  I  Nemanya,  who  subordinated  it  to  the 
Greek   patriarchate,   instituting   for   Servia  an   arch- 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  135 

bishopric  with  his  own  son  as  the  first  Oriental  occu- 
pant of  the  place.  His  official  style  was  Sava,  and  his 
residence  was  Zica,  where  Servian  kings  should  there- 
after be  crowned.  Twelve  bishoprics  were  likewise 
instituted,  each  with  a  Servian  bishop.  About  the 
middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  the  Servian  Church 
was  recognized  as  independent,  and  a  hundred  years 
later  the  great  Stephen  Dushan  raised  the  archbishop 
to  the  dignity  of  Patriarch.  As  between  this  church, 
with  its  spiritual  power  and  the  now  self-assertive 
kingship,  there  was  no  difference  of  policy;  on  the 
contrary,  almost  an  identity  of  purpose.  In  like 
measure  with  the  rise  of  church  and  state,  the  suc- 
cessive Patriarchs  had  become  patricians,  and  the 
patricians  successfully  asserted  for  themselves  the 
privileges  of  nobles.  Royalty  with  its  associated  clergy 
and  nobility  constituted,  of  course,  a  very  small  ruling 
class.  All  other  Servians  were  serfs,  living  in  a  dead 
level  of  humble  servitude,  ignorant,  stupid,  and  dumb. 

This  was  the  Servia  which  for  five  centuries  main-  Servian 
tained  a  certain  identity  and  unity,  in  spite  of  Byzan-  Vicissitudes 
tine  and  Turkish  dominion.  Its  power  rose  and  fell 
in  exact  proportion  to  the  personal  character  of  its 
ruler.  The  feeble  government  of  Byzantium  had 
serious  troubles  alternately  with  Servia  and  Bulgaria; 
just  as,  alternately,  one  of  the  two  sister  states  was 
more  powerful  than  another.  The  climax  of  Servian 
strength  was  reached  under  Stephen  Dushan  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  the  depth  of  its  humiliation  under 
the  conquering  Sultan  Murad.  Its  further  fortunes 
were  comparable  only  to  those  of  Bulgaria,  already 
mentioned;  but  Servia  was  institutionally  stronger 
than  the  sister  people.  Its  clan  system  was  more 
deeply  embedded  in  popular  feeling;  it  preserved  a 


136  THE  BALKANS 

higher  degree  of  ecclesiastical  individuality;  its  folk- 
lore was  richer,  and  while  it  probably  had  no  such 
literary  efflorescence  as  had  Bulgaria  under  Simeon, 
yet  there  was  a  literary  tradition  and  a  body  of  eccle- 
siastical literature,  which  aided  in  perpetuating  a 
national  continuity. 

Just  in  proportion  as  Turkish  rule  was  maintained 
with  increasing  difficulty  by  a  steadily  declining  cen- 
tral power,  did  the  local  Turkish  administration  be- 
come more  oppressive,  ruthless,  and  intolerable.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  Servians 
were  menaced  with  extinction,  so  brutal  had  the  des- 
perate Turkish  officials  become.  It  was,  therefore, 
like  the  turning  of  the  crushed  worm  when,  in  1804, 
a  movement  for  self-protection  was  feebly  organized 
and  an  appeal  was  made  to  arms.  The  insurgents  had 
no  thought  of  liberation  at  the  outset ;  they  wanted 
some  guarantee  for  personal  and  material  security. 
Naturally,  Russia  remarked  the  uprising  with  interest ; 
being  encouraged  in  its  Pan-Slavic  designs  by  the  ex- 
pansion of  Servian  rebellion,  and  ever  ready  to  take 
advantage  of  Turkish  weakness.  The  peace  of  Bucha- 
rest in  1812  provided  Servia  with  a  measure  of  internal 
and  financial  autonomy ;  the  old  frowning  fortresses, 
however,  Belgrade  included,  remained  in  the  hands  of 
Turkish  garrisons. 
Reign  of  No  sooner  had  Servian  efforts  been  crowned  with 

this  measure  of  success  than  factional  quarrels  im- 
posed upon  suffering  Servia  the  unhappy  conditions 
under  which  it  has  ever  since  labored.  The  leaders  of 
the  insurrection  were  partly  of  noble  origin,  or  at  least 
boasted  a  family  tree  reaching  back  to  the  days  of 
Servia's  glory,  and  partly  able  men  sprung  from  the 
stock  of  serfs  and  peasants.     Of  the  latter,  the  most 


Milosh 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  137 

commanding  personage  was  Black  George  (Kara- 
george)  ;  of  the  former  Milosh  Obrenovich.  Russia's 
attention  being  absorbed  by  the  Napoleonic  invasion, 
the  Turks  began  to  wreak  a  bloody  vengeance  upon 
the  unhappy  Servians.  The  peasant  leaders  fled  over 
the  border  into  Austria,  and  finally  found  refuge  in 
Russia.  On  the  other  hand,  on  Palm  Sunday,  April 
11,  1815,  Milosh,  who  had  concealed  himself  at  home, 
appeared  at  Takovo  with  the  old  royal  standard  of 
Servia,  inaugurated  another  revolt,  made  a  successful 
resistance  to  the  enfeebled  Turks,  dictated  his  own 
terms,  and  on  November  6,  181 7,  promulgated,  with 
the  consent  of  Ali  Pasha,  the  Turkish  governor,  an 
autonomous  constitution.  Meantime  Karageorge  had 
returned,  and  manifestly  with  the  intention  of  sharing 
in  the  new  organization  of  his  country.  Under  the 
auspices  of  Milosh  and  the  Turks  he  was  assassinated. 
Reference  has  been  made  to  the  interaction  of  the 
successful  Greek  uprising  and  the  attempted  emanci- 
pation of  other  Balkan  peoples.  However  turbulent 
and  unruly  the  Greeks  were  in  the  early  stages  of  their 
liberation,  they  were  nevertheless  at  heart  inclined  to 
constitutional  government,  and  a  constitutional  mon- 
archy was  finally  founded  by  them  with  no  great  diffi- 
culty. In  this  respect  the  Servian  temperament  was 
quite  antipodal. 

As  has  so  frequently  been  noticed  in  peoples  tem- 
peramentally and  radically  democratic,  institutions 
vacillate  between  poorly  organized  local  rule  and  gen- 
eral tyranny.  No  sooner  were  the  Napoleonic  wars 
ended  than  Russia  renewed  her  attentions  to  Servia. 
For  this  reason  partly,  and  partly  because  Turkish 
garrisons  were  still  in  Servian  citadels,  Milosh  assumed 
the  style  and  state  of  an  Oriental  despot,  ruling  with- 


138 


THE  BALKANS 


Milan  and 
Michael  and 
Alexander 


Second 
Reign  of 

Milosh  and 
Michael 


out  the  semblance  of  constitutional  government,  with- 
out once  referring  his  measures  to  a  national  assembly. 
There  were  occasional  movements  of  protest,  but  such 
rebellions  were  pitilessly  crushed,  and  often  with  much 
bloodshed.  The  democratic  feeling  of  the  Servians, 
therefore,  was  forced  to  organize  itself  in  secret,  and 
in  this,  with  Russian  aid,  it  was  successful.  Curi- 
ously enough,  the  Porte,  when  aware,  as  it  soon  was, 
of  the  incipient  rebellion,  favored  it  as  efficiently  as 
did  Russia.  By  the  combined  action  of  these  three 
agencies,  what  was  called  a  "statute"  was  laboriously 
formulated,  the  substance  of  which  was  that  if  Milosh 
would  not  cooperate  with  a  National  Assembly,  at  least 
his  powers  must  be  regulated  by  a  senate.  This  was 
promulgated  in  1838;  Milosh  accepted  the  inevitable, 
and  took  an  oath  of  adhesion  to  this  ustav,  as  the  ex- 
pression of  the  popular  will.  He  abdicated,  however, 
in  1839,  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Milan,  who  died  a 
few  weeks  after  ascending  the  throne,  and  was  in  turn 
succeeded  by  his  apparently  worthless  brother,  Michael 
III,  who  was  compelled  to  abdicate  in  1842.  The 
National  Assembly,  or  Skupchina,  proceeded  to  the 
election  of  a  successor.  Weary  for  the  moment  of  the 
Obrenovich  aristocrats,  it  chose  the  son  of  Black 
George,  Alexander  Karageorgevich.  He  proved  a 
fairly  successful  ruler,  but  fretted  under  Russian  influ- 
ence until,  at  the  time  of  the  Hungarian  revolution  in 
1848,  he  furnished  a  corps  of  volunteers  to  aid  Austria 
in  suppressing  the  revolt,  and  took  his  cue  in  public 
affairs  almost  completely  from  Vienna. 

Between  the  senate,  created  by  the  statute  of  1838, 
and  the  National  Assembly,  there  was  little  unity  of 
purpose.  The  former  was  self-assertive,  and  in  the 
main  inclined  to  the  support  of  the  Obrenovich  line. 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  139 

In  1858  Alexander  came  to  an  open  rupture  with  the 
senate,  was  deposed,  and  when  the  new  Skupchina  met, 
it  most  unwisely  recalled  the  octogenarian  Milosh  to 
the  throne.  For  two  years  he  ruled  with  willful  ruth- 
lessness,  and  in  i860  was  succeeded  a  second  time  by 
his  son,  Michael  III,  who  thus  also  came  a  second 
time  to  the  throne.  In  the  eight  years  of  his  admin- 
istration he  proved  wiser  than  was  expected,  and  im- 
portant political  changes  took  place  in  Servia :  for  the 
senate  was  substituted  a  council  of  state ;  a  constitution 
guaranteed  a  meeting  of  the  Skupchina  at  least  once 
in  three  years ;  a  general  obligatory  military  service 
was  introduced ;  and  there  was  a  substantial  period  of 
national  recuperation.  Many  young  Servians  had 
been  sent  westward  for  their  education;  these  were 
now  returning,  and  in  their  young  manhood  began  to 
share  in  the  political  life  of  what  seemed  a  rising 
nationality.  They,  however,  cherished  too  fondly  the 
"Great  Servia"  idea,  and  by  them  was  organized  a 
more  or  less  secret  association,  whose  aim  was  the 
creation  at  an  early  date  of  a  Servia,  including  Bosnia 
and  the  Herzegovina,  arrayed  in  pronounced  hostility 
against  the  power  of  Hungary  across  the  Danube.  It 
was  the  events  which  were  taking  place  in  Rumania 
that  interrupted  these  activities,  alike  of  the  prince 
and  his  people.  There  was  absolute  unanimity  of 
feeling  in  Belgrade  that  the  Turkish  garrisons  must 
be  driven  out  of  Servia,  too;  street  brawls  between 
Turks  and  Servians  became  frequent,  and  finally  Tur- 
kish cannon  hurled  shot  and  shell  from  the  lofty  for- 
tress upon  the  houses  and  streets  of  the  city  below. 
Representatives  of  the  Powers  met  in  Constantinople ; 
by  Austria's  insistency  the  Porte  was  brought  first  to 
evacuate   Belgrade,   and   finally  the   other   fortresses. 


i4o  THE  BALKANS 

On  March  6,  1867,  the  last  Turkish  companies  marched 
over  the  frontier  out  of  Servia. 
Milan  IV  Left  thus  in  complete  control  of  their  own  affairs, 

the  Servians  displayed  once  more  to  a  puzzled  world 
the  cleft  between  two  irreconcilable  factions.  The 
supporters  of  the  Karageorgevich  line  in  part,  together 
with  some  who  hoped  to  secure  privileges  they  had  lost 
under  constitutional  government,  conspired  together 
and  assassinated  Michael  in  the  park  of  Topshider 
near  Belgrade  on  June  29,  1868.  There  was  but  one 
surviving  member  of  the  Obrenovich  line,  a  young 
student  in  Paris,  and  he  was  called  to  the  throne  as 
Milan  IV,  reigning  from  1868  until  1889. 

The  defeat  of  the  Servians  in  their  short  war  with 
Bulgaria  was  perhaps  a  perfectly  honorable  one,  but 
it  was  a  sorry  counterpart  to  the  victories  they  had  so 
recently  won  in  Turkey.  Nish,  Pirot,  and  Turn  they 
had  incorporated  into  Servia  and  plumed  themselves 
upon  their  warlike  spirit;  but  less  than  ten  years  later 
the  most  important  of  these  towns  had  been  surren- 
dered to  the  Bulgarians,  and  they  would  have  been  over- 
whelmed except  for  the  intervention  of  Austria.  What 
with  these  humiliations  and  the  shameful  quarrels 
about  the  throne  and  in  the  rival  claimant  families, 
there  was  no  possibility  of  a  healthy  evolution.  Their 
finances  were  shockingly  mismanaged ;  they  had  no 
respect  for  their  rulers ;  to  the  traveler  it  seemed  as 
if  languor  was  their  most  striking  quality.  A  kind 
of  sullen  discontent  was  mirrored  in  their  faces,  and 
they  brooded  ineffectually  over  the  dismemberment  of 
their  nationality  :  indifferent  to  their  own  regeneration, 
they  were  deeply  concerned  about  the  hundred  thou- 
sands of  Serbs  in  Hungaria,  Croatia,  Dalmatia, 
Bosnia,  Macedonia,  and  Old  Servia,  with  whom  no 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  141 

organic  union  seemed  possible,  and  who,  moreover, 
were  not  enthusiastic  for  the  leadership  of  a  Servia 
branded  with  so  many  disgraceful  scars. 

The  events  of  Milan's  reign  do  not,  therefore,  con-  Alexander  I 
stitute  a  brilliant  chapter  in  Servian  history.  His  hold 
upon  the  people  was  steadily  relaxed,  yet  he  neverthe- 
less succeeded  in  securing  from  the  Skupchina  a  con- 
stitution of  a  still  more  modern  type  than  that  which 
it  had  previously  adopted.  On  March  6,  1889,  he 
voluntarily  abdicated  in  favor  of  his  son,  Alexander 
I,  still  a  mere  boy.  When  the  heir  ascended  his  shaky 
throne  the  plots  and  counterplots  of  Russia  and 
Austria-Hungary  were  steadily  undermining  the  small 
remainder  of  national  morality;  indeed,  there  was  no 
national  force,  moral  or  otherwise.  Perpetual  efforts 
were  made  to  amend  the  situation  by  amending  the 
constitution.  The  young  king  chose  as  his  consort  a 
woman  whose  beauty  and  charm  had  hitherto  adorned 
only  the  basest  stratum  of  gay  society.  Ashamed  of 
their  queen,  the  ministers  and  their  sovereign  became 
entangled  in  backstairs  conspiracy  and  debased, 
theatrical  politics.  It  is  only  ten  years  since  the  king, 
the  queen,  the  queen's  brother,  two  ministers  of  state 
and  fifty  other  persons  were  brutally  murdered  in  the 
palace  of  Belgrade;  and  the  woman's  corpse,  flung 
from  a  window  onto  the  grassy  terrace  bordering  the 
main  street,  lay  for  hours  and  hours  for  the  baser  sort 
to  gloat  over,  until  the  ambassador  of  a  foreign  power, 
whether  from  a  sense  of  guilty  complicity  or  from 
compassionate  humanity,  intervened  to  give  it  decent 
burial.  Whatever  indictments  may  be  brought  against 
the  private  and  public  lives  of  Alexander  and  Draga, 
last  of  the  Obrenovich  line — and  weighty  ones  would 
lie  against  them — the  deed  was  one  of  shame,  en- 


142 


THE  BALKANS 


Peter 


General 
Characteris- 
tics 


gendered  in  disgraceful  conspiracy  by  those  who  lusted 
for  power  at  any  cost. 

The  rival  Karageorgevich  line  came  to  the  throne  in 
the  person  of  the  reigning  monarch,  King  Peter;  and 
after  such  an  interval,  down  to  the  opening  of  the 
latest  war,  when  masses  were  at  last  sometimes  said 
over  the  unmarked  graves  of  his  predecessors,  no  one 
had  lifted  up  a  voice  to  say  that  the  latter  state  of  the 
unhappy  land  was  better  than  the  former.  Somehow, 
time  alone  did  not  produce  oblivion ;  and  when,  after 
such  an  interval,  arrangements  were  made  only  three 
years  ago  for  an  official  visit  of  the  Servian  king  to 
Vienna,  it  proved  a  happy  evasion  of  what  high- 
minded  people  stigmatized  as  a  scandal,  politics  or  no 
politics,  that  the  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  caught  a 
heavy  cold,  which  at  his  advanced  age  was  a  sufficient 
excuse  for  the  postponement  of  the  call.  We  cannot 
recollect  that  any  personage  within  or  without  the 
Servian  kingdom  entertained  even  a  dim  suspicion  of 
the  true  Servian  nature,  a  nature  which  under  chastise- 
ment has  renewed  its  courage,  and  in  many  hard- 
fought  battlefields  has  exhibited  an  unsuspected  capac- 
ity for  discipline. 

After  a  hundred  years  Belgrade  remains  a  common- 
place, unthrifty  town  with  a  provincial  Austrian, 
rather  than  Servian,  impress.  The  heir  to  the  throne 
is  a  dissipated  youth  of  no  character.  The  king's 
daughter,  educated  at  a  foreign  court,  is  married  to  a 
Russian  scion  of  royalty;  but  the  rehabilitation  of 
Servian  royalty  among  the  reigning  houses  of  Europe 
has  sadly  halted.  Corruption  in  public  life  is  a  wide- 
spread disease,  and  where  money  bribery  is  mini- 
mized, place  bribery  stalks  unabashed.  As  long  as  a 
British  ministry  could  see  no  shame  in  the  proposition 


THE  BALKAN  NATIONS  143 

to  confer  a  title  in  exchange  for  a  vote  in  Parliament, 
it  is  unfair  to  besmirch  even  Servian  public  life  on  this 
account;  yet  at  Belgrade  the  trade  of  politics  has  been 
on  a  level  unknown  elsewhere,  unless  it  be  at  Constan- 
tinople. The  overthrow  of  one  king  and  the  setting- 
up  of  another  was  a  matter  of  money,  and  it  was  the 
Russian  ambassador  in  Belgrade  who  provided  the 
needed  funds.  The  whole  conspiracy  has  been  pa- 
tiently traced  to  its  sources  and  outlined  in  all  its  de- 
tails :  there  is  not  a  step  for  which  the  documentary 
evidence  cannot  be  produced. 

Public  opinion  there,  as  elsewhere,  refuses  to  fix  the 
guilt  of  bloodshed  in  high  places  and  on  great  names, 
where  national  policies  are  concerned.  Slowly  but 
surely,  at  Belgrade,  the  red-handed  criminals  have  one 
by  one  paid  the  penalties  of  a  scandalous,  unclean, 
shocking  series  of  crimes.  Those  who  profited  are 
likely  to  remain  under  the  ban,  whatever  diplomacy 
demands  in  the  face  of  accomplished  facts.  No 
wonder  that  of  all  Balkan  lands,  poor  Servia  has  been 
the  least  advanced,  that  her  training  in  school  and 
army  was  as  embryonic  as  her  visions  were  prepos- 
terous. Being  at  the  mercy  of  a  single  great  state, 
with  no  outlet  or  inlet  uncontrolled  by  others,  her 
economic  plight  has  been  sad ;  but  it  neither  explains 
nor  palliates  her  deplorable  moral  plight.  Religion 
is  as  yet  largely  superstition;  social  organization  of  a 
modern  sort  barely  exists,  and  her  leaders  stimulate 
national  ambition  with  the  exhibit  of  political  toys 
and  the  emphasis  of  primitive  manners  as  the  cohesive 
force  for  a  great  empire!  They  appeared  to  be  and 
in  a  measure  still  are  a  peasant  folk  poisoned  by  the 
virus  of  a  showy  civilization  for  which  they  have  no 
receptivity.     Their  agriculture  is   rude,  their  manu- 


i44  THE  BALKANS 

factures  inchoate,  their  natural  resources  of  lumber 
and  mines  in  the  hands  of  foreign  exploiters.  Noth- 
ing but  the  abandonment  of  false  gods  can  restore  the 
pristine  virtues  of  which  they  boast. 

This  is  the  land  which  by  reason  of  its  name  and 
its  language  aspires  to  leadership  and  control  in  the 
creation  of  the  Greater  Servia.  The  passion  for  this 
ideal  among  all  Serbo-Croats  is  a  species  of  imperial 
insanity.  The  Servians  of  little  Servia  expound  it 
in  their  newspapers,  they  set  it  forth  in  their  school- 
books,  nourishing  their  young  on  wind;  it  is  the  stock 
in  trade  of  the  demagogue,  the  theme  of  the  rhymer, 
the  subject  of  baby  talk  and  cradle  song. 


VI 

THE    REVOLUTION    OF    1908    AND   ITS 
CONSEQUENCES 


145 


VI 

THE  REVOLUTION  OF   1908  AND  ITS  CONSEQUENCES1 

The  outline  of  tyrannical  methods  given  in  a  pre-  Turkish 
vious   chapter  sufficiently   indicates  the  character  of  Apathy  and 
Oriental    despotism   as   practiced   by   Abdul   Hamid.   Corruption 
Kitchen  cabinets  had  substituted  terror  and  spying  for 
paternal  government;   farmers  of  the  taxes  had  re- 
duced the  Christian  peoples  to  despair  in  the  provinces 
and  had  even  driven  the  few  agricultural  Turks  into  a 
dull,  fatalistic  apathy  by  the  same  process  of  exaction. 
There  was  an  army,  but  it  was  neither  clad,  fed,  nor 
paid.     Under  German  instruction  it  had  been  drilled 
into  what  was  believed  to  be  an  efficient  fighting  ma- 
chine, although  this  conviction  was  based  rather  on 
the  native  courage  and  fatalistic  doggedness  of  the 
Turkish  peasantry  than  upon  any  proof  of  their  mili- 
tary efficiency. 

The  international  commission,  provided  for  in  1878 
by  the  Treaty  of  Berlin,  met  and  made  suggestions  for 
reforms  in  the  European  Vilayets  which  Turkey  had 
been  permitted  to  retain.  The  Turkish  government 
would  not  ratify  this  so-called  law,  remained  utterly 
passive,  and  shrewdly  relied  upon  the  reciprocal 
jealousies  of  the  great  powers  as  a  guarantee  against 
their  active  enforcement  of  their  wishes.  Of  the  then 
inchoate  nationalities  in  the  Balkans  (Albanians  were 
not  then  so  considered),  the  Macedonians  alone  had 

'See  Political  Science  Quarterly,    March,   1913,  pp.  95-123.  Professor  S.    P. 
Duggan. 

147 


14S 


THE  BALKANS 


Feebleness 
and  Futility 
of  the  Powers 


received  no  measure  of  autonomy  from  the  Treaty  of 
Berlin.  They  regarded  with  hungry  eves  the  surround- 
ing peoples  who  had.  At  the  risk  of  repetition  it 
must  be  recalled  that  while  Macedonian  villages  con- 
tained for  the  most  part  people  claiming  to  be  of  a 
single  nationality,  to  wit,  Turkish  or  Greek  or  Servian 
or  Bulgarian,  yet  in  each  district  there  were  villages  of 
each  variety ;  and  that  under  the  hideous  compulsion 
of  the  komitadjis  a  village  might  be  Greek  one  day  and 
Bulgarian  the  next,  or  vice  versa.  While  this  "conver- 
sion" was  due  in  the  main  to  the  exercise  of  shock- 
ing cruelties,  yet  so  lacerated  had  the  human  fiber 
become,  so  hungry  and  so  destitute  the  women  and 
children,  that  shrewd  bribery  frequently  served  the 
same  purpose. 

In  1903  Austria-Hungary  and  Russia  sent  represen- 
tatives to  Miirzteg  on  October  the  ninth,  and  these 
well-meaning  gentlemen  proceeded  to  draw  up  a  pro- 
gram for  the  regeneration  of  bleeding  Macedonia. 
Personal  representatives  of  these  two  great  powers 
were  to  supervise  on  the  spot  the  carrying  out  of  re- 
forms; there  was  to  be  a  body  of  mounted  military 
police  under  the  control  of  some  foreign  general  with 
an  associated  staff  of  officers  selected  by  the  great 
powers.  Two  years  later  provision  was  made  by 
representatives  of  France,  Germany,  Russia,  and  Italy 
for  a  series  of  financial  reforms.  These  had  a 
specious  appearance,  but  the  agents  of  reform  had  no 
backing  whatever  from  the  Turkish  officials,  who  were 
just  as  sullen  and  inactive  as  ever.  There  was  only 
one  result  of  all  this  futility:  authentic  news  of  massa- 
cre and  outrage  did  penetrate  to  the  Western  world. 
In  1907  Austria-Hungary  accepted  as  compensation 
for  the  abandonment  of  such  pretense  a  concession  to 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF   1908  149 

connect  her  railway  lines  in  Bosnia  with  the  Turkish 
one  from  Monastir  to  Salonica  across  the  Sanjak  of 
Novi-Bazar.  Russia  exhibited  no  feeling  of  outrage 
at  this  procedure,  and  matters  went  on  as  before.  Re- 
ports from  the  new  agents  resident  in  Macedonia  were, 
however,  specific ;  British  opinion  was  greatly  stirred ; 
and  in  1908  the  Czar  and  King  Edward  VII  met  at 
Reval,  where  a  fairly  elaborate  program  for  efficient 
supervision  and  compulsion  of  the  recalcitrant  Turkish 
authority  was  devised.  It  is  possible  that  the  menace 
of  the  Reval  program  was  one  of  the  causes  working 
for  the  overthrow  of  Abdul  Hamid.  This  is  not  very 
likely,  although  it  may  have  quickened  the  march  of 
events. 

We  have  already  recounted  the  palace  scandals  of  Balkan 
Belgrade.     For  five  years  thereafter  Servian  politics   Conditions 
had  no  consistency  and  the  nation  drifted  without  effi- 
cient leadership.     The  concession  to  Austria-Hungary 
for  her  Novi-Bazar  railway  outraged  the  Servians, 
for  it   rendered  even  more   complete  the   possibility 
of  domination  by  the  Dual   Monarchy   in   economic 
matters.       Their    hope    of     annexing    that     district 
in  order  to  be  conterminous  with  the  Serbs  of  Monte- 
negro vanished.     In  the  dark  pall  which  seemed  set- 
tling upon  Servia  there  was  but  one  light-ray — a  com- 
mercial arrangement  concluded  in  1906  with  Bulgaria, 
whereby  in  the  last  resort  she  could  find  an  outlet 
down  the  Danube  and  through  Bulgarian  harbors  into 
the  Black  Sea.    The  state  of  Servian  opinion  at  this 
juncture   may   be    described    as    one   of    desperation. 
Quite  otherwise  was  that  of  her  neighbor  Montenegro,    (2)  Monte- 
whose  advances  in  many  directions  had  rendered  its  negro 
people,  after  a  prolonged  period  of  peace,   quite  as 
eager  for  warlike  advance  as  ever  before  in  its  history. 


i5o  THE  BALKANS 

As  to  Bulgaria,  she  possessed  a  double  advantage 
over  the  other  minor  states  of  the  Balkans.  The 
founders  of  the  new  Bulgaria  had  been  educated  in 
large  numbers  at  Robert  College,  the  American  institu- 
tion of  learning  at  Constantinople,  where  they  had 
been  taught  at  least  the  principles  of  common  honesty 
in  public  finance,  the  practice  of  which  had  kept  her, 
in  marked  contrast  to  both  Servia  and  Greece,  mis- 
tress of  her  own  purse  and  independent  of  foreign 
financial  control.  While  taxation  was  not  unduly 
heavy,  its  proceeds  were  honestly  used  to  create  an 
efficient  army,  to  improve  all  the  means  of  transporta- 
tion throughout  the  kingdom  and,  to  a  certain  extent, 
in  the  upbuilding  of  an  educational  system.  It  was 
in  this  last  regard  that  they  experienced  the  greatest 
trouble,  partly  because  of  fanaticism  in  the  Greek 
Church,  partly  because  of  the  perfervid  zeal  for 
politics  among  the  young,  and  partly  because  young 
Bulgarians,  like  old  ones,  are  extremely  restive  under 
the  exercise  of  stern  discipline  in  civil  affairs.  Natu- 
rally, the  relations  between  Bulgaria  and  Turkey  were 
strained;  those  with  Greece  were  scarcely  better  be- 
cause of  their  rivalry  in  the  Macedonian  brutalities. 

The  plight  of  Greece  in  1908  seemed  outwardly 
sorry  enough.  Political  factions  had  made  consistent 
government  impossible.  Greek  finances  were  in  the 
iron  hand  of  a  foreign  commission,  and  so  thoroughly 
senseless  had  been  the  proclamation  of  Greek  ambi- 
tions that  the  world  looked  on  in  puzzled  wonder. 
Her  attempts  to  ''convert"  the  Rumanian  Vlachs  with- 
in her  borders  had  exasperated  Rumania  until  there 
was  no  semblance  of  diplomatic  intercourse  with  her, 
while  that  with  Bulgaria  was  scarcely  better,  because 
of  the  favor  received  by  the  Greek  bands  in  Mace- 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF   1908  151 

donia  at  the  hands  of  the  Turkish  authorities.  Crete 
was  clamoring  for  annexation,  but  the  powers  forced 
the  unhappy  little  kingdom  to  maintain  the  status  quo. 

At  this  time  the  relative  populations  of  the  Balkan  Population 
States  in  Europe  were  about  as  follows:  Of  Turkey,  and  Finance 
out  of  a  total  of  thirty-five  millions,  about  six ;  of  Bul- 
garia, over  four;  of  Rumania,  about  seven;  of  Servia, 
nearly  three;  of  Greece,  two  and  a  half;  and  of  Monte- 
negro, a  quarter  of  a  million.  Their  public  debts  were 
respectively  in  the  same  order:  Six  hundred  million 
dollars,  a  hundred  and  two,  two  hundred  and  fifty-six, 
a  hundred  and  thirty-five,  a  hundred  and  thirty-eight, 
and  a  million  and  a  quarter  dollars.  When,  however,  it 
comes  to  estimating  the  revenues,  the  situation  is  quite 
different.  Turkey  had  about  a  hundred  and  thirty- 
eight  millions;  Bulgaria,  thirty-six  millions;  Servia, 
twenty-eight  millions ;  Greece,  twenty-nine  millions ; 
and  Montenegro  less  than  ten  thousand  dollars. 

Matters  might  have  been  worse  in  Turkey  and  Ser-  Plight  of  the 
via  and  in  Greece,  but  they  were  sufficiently  bad  to  Powers 
render  the  great  powers  of  the  West  extremely  timid. 
The  old  legend  of  Turkey  as  a  sick  man,  whose  heirs 
were  waiting  to  divide  his  fortune,  might  be  precipi- 
tated into  reality  at  any  moment.  Russia  had  been 
brought  to  the  verge  of  inanition  by  her  war  with 
Japan.  No  one  feared  her,  and  in  the  Balkans  her 
prestige  was  at  the  lowest  ebb.  Great  Britain  has  in 
India  and  Egypt  so  many  millions  of  Moslem  subjects, 
and  her  commercial  interests  are  so  extended,  that 
for  long  years  she  had  done  little  at  Constantinople  but 
give  advice  and  exert  moral  pressure.  Indeed,  so  jeal- 
ous is  her  control  of  the  Mediterranean  that  it  was  her 
influence  which  kept  Crete  in  the  balance  between  the 
Porte  and  Greece.    France,  too,  was  utterly  impotent. 


152  THE  BALKANS 

After  Great  Britain  she  had  become,  through  the  enor- 
mous expansion  of  her  African  colonial  empire,  the 
ruler  of  more  Mohammedan  subjects  than  any  other 
power;  moreover,  she  was  entangled  in  the  web  of 
Moroccan  difficulties.  Her  financial  institutions  had 
loaned  millions  of  dollars  in  the  Balkan  peninsula,  and 
with  her  thrifty  peasants  in  possession  of  the  ballot, 
and  consequently  of  political  power,  her  foreign  policy 
had  become  almost  entirely  economic  and  mercantile. 
Italy,  though  a  member  of  the  Triple  Alliance  and 
awake  to  the  necessities  of  reform  in  Macedonia,  was 
rendered  inactive  by  her  own  double  problem,  to  the 
southward  in  Africa,  and  to  the  eastward  across  the 
Adriatic.  For  some  time  the  bitterness  between  her  and 
Austria-Hungary  had  been  enhanced  by  rivalry  for 
the  control  of  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Adriatic.  There 
had  developed  as  the  almost  pivotal  principle  of  her 
foreign  policy  the  determination  that  that  shore  should 
be  kept  in  weak  hands.  Thousands  of  Albanians  in- 
habit Italy,  and  in  all  this  seething  furnace  of  sordid, 
petty  politics  the  Albanians  at  home,  the  Albanians  in 
Greece,  and  the  Albanians  in  Italy  were  beginning  to 
ask,  "If  a  Macedonian  nationality  is  to  emerge  from 
all  these  troubles,  why  not  an  Albanian?"  With  an 
Albania  created,  so  to  speak,  under  the  Italian  aegis, 
Italy's  position  across  the  narrow  sea  would  be  greatly 
strengthened. 

Of  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  we  may  speak 
in  this  connection  as  of  a  single  great  power,  so 
thorough  was  their  understanding  and  so  unified  were 
their  interests.  From  the  Ottoman  government  at 
Constantinople  they  had  secured  immense  privilege. 
The  latter  already  held  Bosnia  and  the  Herzegovina, 
and  was  expecting  an  outlet  to  the/Egean,  with  possibly 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF   1908  153 

a  joint  occupation  of  the  Sanjak  of  Novi-Bazar  with 
Turkey.  This  would  further  weaken  the  Pan-Slavic 
movement,  and  effectually  quench  the  Servian  ambi- 
tions for  a  boundary  conterminous  with  Montenegro. 
The  former,  on  the  other  hand,  the  stronger  partner 
in  the  coalition,  had  maintained  at  Constantinople  an 
ambassador,  Marshall  von  Bieberstein,  so  shrewd  that 
he  virtually  nullified  British  influence  at  the  Porte. 
He  wooed  Abdul  Hamid  openly  by  the  imperial  visit 
of  William  II  to  Constantinople,  and  had  finally  ob- 
tained a  series  of  railway  concessions  in  Asia  Minor 
which  actually  bade  fair  to  put  the  shortest  highway 
between  Great  Britain  and  her  Indian  empire  into  Ger- 
man hands.  To  show  how  enthusiastic  the  Ottoman 
empire  was  in  its  German  sympathy,  as  late  as  June, 
1908,  Turkish  subjects  in  the  Far  East  were  trans- 
ferred from  the  protectorate  of  France  to  that  of 
Germany. 

For  long  years  there  had  resided  in  Paris  a  number  The  Young 
of  Turks  who,  associating  almost  exclusively  with  Turk  Party 
each  other,  had  finally  evolved  a  chimerical  idea  that 
Turkey  could,  under  proper  guidance,  ignore  its  past 
and  emerge  like  a  butterfly  from  the  chrysalis  sud- 
denly and  instantly  into  sistership  with  the  European 
powers.  No  one  doubts  their  sincerity,  but  everyone 
did  doubt  their  capacity.  It  was,  therefore,  an  event 
more  startling  than  the  sound  of  the  firebell  by  night 
when  a  so-called  Committee  of  Union  and  Progress, 
having  secretly  wooed  the  Turkish  army  stationed  in 
the  Balkan  provinces,  persuaded  its  generals  to  march 
upon  Constantinople,  depose  and  imprison  Abdul  Ha- 
mid, and  mete  out  retrospective  justice  under  lynch 
law  to  all  Turkish  notables  who  had  supported  the 
Hamidian  regime.    This  revolution  began  on  July  24, 


i54  THE  BALKANS 

1908,  and  within  a  few  days  the  Young  Turk  idealists 
of  Western  Europe  were  at  the  helm  of  affairs  in  their 
own  land  in  the  extreme  east  of  that  continent.  In  the 
retrospect  of  a  few  years,  with  its  doleful  tale  of 
failure  and  humiliation,  it  is  hard  to  realize  the  elation 
of  spirit  felt  not  only  at  Constantinople,  but  through- 
out the  Western  world,  by  honest  idealists  who  be- 
lieved that  a  regenerated  and  constitutional  Turkey 
was  not  only  possible,  but  in  the  process  of  formation. 
After  ten  years  of  quiescence,  British  diplomacy  at 
Constantinople  suddenly  regained  its  ascendancy.  The 
British  ambassador  was  the  most  popular  figure  on  the 
streets  of  the  city;  a  British  admiral  began  the  reor- 
ganization of  the  fleet;  a  British  agent  assumed  the 
task  of  rehabilitating  the  finances;  and  a  British  en- 
gineer was  put  in  charge  of  the  public  works. 

So  swift  and  specious  was  the  immediate  advance 
that  all  European  authorities  felt  forced  to  behave  as 
if  the  gain  were  permanent.  Not  only  the  civil  and 
military  officials  of  foreign  powers,  but  the  komitadji 
bands  alike  disappeared  from  Macedonia,  being  with- 
drawn so  that  order  might  be  restored  under  constitu- 
tional government.  Religious  liberty  and  racial 
equality  were  terms  no  longer  essential,  because  every 
inhabitant  of  the  Ottoman  empire  was  to  become  a 
loyal  Ottoman  citizen.  There  was  to  be  an  obliteration 
of  race  and  religious  antipathy;  there  was  to  be  an 
introduction  of  legal  reforms  so  radical  as  to  insure 
the  equality  of  Christians  before  the  courts  and  in 
the  military  services  by  land  and  by  sea;  the  ballot 
was  to  be  free.  Throughout  the  pleasant  summer 
months  of  that  year  there  was  a  period  of  general  re- 
joicing and  complete  inactivity. 

As  yet,  Bulgaria  was  technically  a  vassal  state, bound 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF   1908  155 

to  pay  an  annual  tribute  to  the  Sultan.  For  years  no  Sparks 
one  had  considered  the  technicality  as  otherwise  than  Before  the 
a  farce,  but  when  the  new  government  at  Constan-  e 
tinople,  late  in  September,  summoned  the  resident 
diplomats  to  a  banquet,  they  deliberately  overlooked 
the  Bulgarian  agent,  who  was  not  technically  a  diplo- 
matist. Within  a  fortnight  Bulgaria  declared  her 
complete  independence,  and  when  a  strike  broke  out  on 
the  Oriental  railway,  in  Rumelia,  Bulgaria  restored 
order  and  assumed  the  control  of  all  Turkish  railways 
within  its  boundaries.  It  likewise  denounced  the  sys- 
tem of  capitulations  as  no  longer  operative  in  Eastern 
Rumelia.  This  high-handed  procedure  was  mildly  dep- 
recated by  the  great  powers  as  a  breach  of  the  Treaty 
of  Berlin,  but  Bulgaria  retorted  that  she  had  not  been 
a  party  to  that  compact. 

With  the  fringes  of  that  public  charter  thus  muti- 
lated, Austria-Hungary  almost  simultaneously  an- 
nounced to  the  world  that  her  protectorate  of  Bosnia 
and  the  Herzegovina  had  ceased,  and  that  those 
provinces  were  now  an  integral  part  of  the  dual  mon- 
archy. The  Treaty  of  Berlin,  violated  from  the  begin- 
ning by  each  of  its  signatories,  according  to  their 
respective  interests,  had  virtually  ceased  to  exist.  The 
two  provinces,  solidly  populated  by  Slavs,  had  re- 
garded the  Young  Turk  Revolution  as  a  guarantee  of 
their  own  freedom  and  of  the  full  electoral  rights 
which  under  the  Austrian  protectorate  they  had  never 
enjoyed.  For  this  reason  they  had  begun  an  agitation 
and  announced  their  aspirations  as  loyal  subjects  of  the 
Sultan  to  be  represented  in  the  parliament  at  Constanti- 
nople. This  precipitated  the  annexation.  Russia  and 
Great  Britain  were  indignant  and  remonstrated  with 
Austria-Hungary.     To  their  joint   note  the  Austro- 


156  THE  BALKANS 

Hungarian  foreign  minister,  Aehrenthal,  gave  answer 
that  no  limitation  had  been  set  to  the  Austro-Hunga- 
rian  occupation  of  the  provinces,  either  as  to  time  or  to 
control ;  that  his  country  had  made  enormous  sacrifices 
for  the  improvement  of  the  provinces ;  that  their  an- 
nexation was  a  settled  matter,  never  to  be  submitted 
to  a  European  congress.  On  March  22,  1909,  Ger- 
many notified  Russia  that  if  her  consent  were  not 
given,  Servia,  having  mobilized  its  army  and  called 
out  its  reserves  to  back  a  claim  for  territorial  compen- 
sation, would  immediately  be  invaded  by  Austro- 
Hungarian  troops.  Through  the  channel  by  which 
this  information  was  conveyed  there  rang  an  imperious 
note;  Russia  submitted;  Italy  was  bound  by  the  Triple 
Alliance ;  England  and  France  were  pacific ;  all  talk  of 
a  European  conference  ceased. 

Crete  thought  its  opportunity  had  come,  and  voted 
its  union  with  Greece.  This  little  folk,  however,  had 
so  often  endured  serious  castigation  at  the  hands  of 
the  Powers,  that  it  humbly  asked  for  their  sanction, 
which  was  disallowed  by  them  immediately. 

Here,  then,  was  the  Young  Turk  government,  pro- 
claiming the  unity  of  the  Ottoman  empire,  at  once  and 
disastrously  stripped  of  two  great  vassal  territories  and 
menaced  with  the  loss  of  a  third.  They  dared  not  fight 
Bulgaria  with  amis,  and  least  of  all  Austria-Hungary. 
As  regards  the  latter  power,  recourse  was  had  to  a  o  »m- 
plete  boycott  of  her  wares ;  a  boycott  so  complete  that 
it  entailed  enormous  losses,  amply  retrieved,  however, 
by  exploiting  the  natural  resources  of  Bosnia  and  the 
Herzegovina.  In  order  to  end  the  boycott,  Austria 
finally  paid  eleven  million  dollars  as  compensation  for 
church  property  and  other  lands  claimed  by  the  Porte 
within    these   two   provinces;   and    it    was   likewise   a 


Flame 


THE  REVOLUTION   OF   1908  157 

clever  move  of  the  Young  Turks  to  levy  heavy  customs 
on  goods  from  Eastern  Rumelia,  hitherto  free  from 
that  exaction  because  it  was  nominally  a  tributary 
province.  Bulgaria  therefore  agreed  to  an  indemnity 
of  sixteen  million  dollars  payment  partly  for  the  rail- 
way and  partly  as  compensation  for  the  tribute 
technically  due  to  the  Sultan.  The  new  Turkish 
government  defied  Greece  in  the  matter  of  Cretan 
annexation,  but  gave  formal  assent  to  the  annexation 
of  Bosnia  and  the  Herzegovina  by  the  dual  monarchy 
and  recognized  the  independence  of  Bulgaria. 

Although  the  central  doctrine  of  Islam  is  resigna-  Fanning  the 
tion,  yet  from  the  days  of  Mohammed  onward  there 
have  been  in  every  Mohammedan  state  a  party  of  prog- 
ress and  a  party  of  reaction.  The  blindly  fanatical, 
reactionary  adherents  of  their  religion  were  bitterly 
opposed  to  a  political  situation  antagonistic  to  the 
precepts  of  the  Koran.  In  particular,  the  half-savage 
Kurds  rose  in  a  blind  fury;  there  was  a  hideous  mas- 
sacre of  Christians  in  Asia  Minor,  and  the  Arabs  in  Ye- 
men threatened  secession  from  the  empire.  Among  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  Turkish  soldiery  there  was,  it  is 
said,  great  murmuring.  They  could  fight  for  a  cause 
in  harmony  with  their  faith,  but  the  Europeanized 
Turks  who  were  leading  this  disastrous  movement 
made  no  pretense  of  being  faithful  to  the  religion  of 
Islam  as  the  lower  classes  understood  it.  On  April 
13,  1909,  there  was  an  effort  to  oust  the  Committee  of 
Union  and  Progress  from  power.  Mahmud  Shefket 
Pasha  marched  swiftly  into  the  city  with  twenty-five 
thousand  men  at  his  back  and  crushed  all  opposition, 
establishing  a  military  government  and  showing  no 
regard  for  the  constitution. 

The    general    himself    became    minister    of    war. 


158  THE  BALKANS 

Educated  in  Germany,  he  intrusted  the  reorganization 
of  the  army  to  a  distinguished   German  officer,  von 
der  Golz,  and  thereafter  the  military  power  was  in 
intimate  relations  with  the  Triple  Alliance.     Young 
Turkey,   nominally  constitutional   rulers,  in  reality  a 
mere  annex  of  the  army,  slowly  assumed  the  same  atti- 
tude.    Fearing  the  partition  of  Persia  between  Russia 
and   Great   Britain,   they   sent  troops  to  the   Persian 
frontier  in  order  to  prevent  encroachments  on  their 
own  boundaries.     Both  the  great  powers  concerned 
exhibited    impatience    and    remonstrated    against    the 
action.      Manifestly,   too,    Great   Britain   and   France 
sympathized  with  the  Cretan  people  in  its  desire  for 
annexation   with   Greece.      These    facts   went    far   to 
alienate  the  Young  Turks  from  the  Triple  Entente; 
and  financial  ruin  stared  them  in  the  face,  since  no 
assistance  was  to  be  had  from  any  one  of  its  three 
members.     Without  the  assent  of  the  public-debt  ad- 
ministration  there  could   be   no   increase  in  customs 
duties.     Of  the  powers  represented  in  that  body,  Aus- 
tria-Hungary and  Germany  had  combined  to  permit  an 
increase  of  the  tariff  in   1910;  and  had  assented  to 
heavy   taxes   upon   alien  merchants.      Both   of    them 
assumed  a  disinterested  attitude  in  the  Cretan  matter, 
and  Marshall  regained  by  a  skillful  use  of  these  facts 
the  position  of  influence  which  he  had  occupied  under 
the  Hamidian  regime.     Rumania  and  Turkey,  for  rea- 
sons previously  given,  were  embittered  against  Greece, 
and  in  proportion  as  Greece  and  Bulgaria  seemed  to 
draw   together   it   appeared  essential   that   they,   too, 
should  make  common  cause  against  a  power  hostile  to 
both,  which  was  assuming  portentous  dimensions. 

It  must  be  said  of  the  Young  Turks  that  at  least 
they  had  the  courage  of  their  convictions.     Not  for 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF   1908  159 

one  instant  did  they  relax  the  effort  to  centralize 
government  authority ;  and  the  ruthless  process  of 
Turkification  throughout  the  empire  went  steadily 
forward.  Kurds,  Arabs,  and  Albanians  were  recal- 
citrant because  of  their  respective  but  primitive  civil 
constitutions;  the  Macedonians  were  infuriated  as 
they  saw  their  hope  of  autonomy  disappear.  It  will 
be  recalled  that  Turkification,  in  itself  an  absurdity, 
was  always  initially  thwarted  by  the  fact  that  the 
Ottoman  empire,  in  so  far  as  it  had  an  organization, 
was  a  church  ruling  other  churches,  and  unfamiliar 
with  the  concept  of  true  nationality  in  its  most  rudimen- 
tary form.  The  effort  to  strip  the  Christian  communi- 
ties of  the  bitterness  accumulated  during  five  centuries 
of  oppression  within  a  few  weeks  was  worse  than  futile 
— it  was  incendiary.  It  was  the  cause  of  the  rebellion 
in  Albania  which  destroyed  the  Turkish  bulwark 
against  the  Slavs;  it  brought  about  the  renascence  of 
race  patriotism  among  the  Albanians;  it  ended  in 
humiliating  surrender.  Forced  to  grant  an  amnesty, 
the  Young  Turk  government  yielded  every  one  of 
twelve  radical  demands  formulated  by  the  rebel  Al- 
banians. This  process,  moreover,  as  we  have  else- 
where said,  kindled  the  conflagration  of  revolt  in 
Macedonia. 

The  cup  of  their  humiliation  ran  over  when  one  of  Italy  Adds 
the  great  powers  preempted  its  share  in  the  disintegra-  Fuel 
tion  of  the  Ottoman  empire.  On  September  28,  191 1, 
Italy  announced  to  a  somewhat  startled  world  that  she 
was  about  to  occupy  Tripoli  and  the  Cyrenaica ;  and 
she  promptly  made  good  the  menace  of  her  proclama- 
tion by  transporting  an  army  into  Africa.  The  signifi- 
cance of  this  act  for  the  government  at  Constan- 
tinople has  not  been  fully  understood.    These  were  the 


160  THE  BALKANS 

only  two  remaining  purely  Mohammedan  provinces  of 
the  Turkish  empire.  What  does  a  Caliph  amount  to 
who  has  no  believers  over  whom  he  may  preside  with- 
out the  intervention  of  heretical  states?  Islam  knows 
no  distinction  between  civil  and  spiritual  power;  a 
spiritual  sovereign  with  no  secular  authority  is  to  a 
faithful  Moslem  a  simple  absurdity.  The  wayfaring 
man  could  understand,  and  did,  that  this  situation  had 
been  created  under  Young  Turkish  rule.  Throughout 
the  confines  of  Mohammedanism  there  was  murmur- 
ing and  much  discussion  as  to  whether  the  Padishah 
at  Constantinople  were  fit  to  be  the  spiritual  head  of 
the  true  believers.  Islam  as  a  system  alike  of  spiritual 
and  secular  control  was  reduced  to  its  deepest  humilia- 
tion. Nothing  so  degrading  had  occurred  throughout 
its  long  history. 

Italy  had  feared  lest  the  annexation  by  Austria- 
Hungary  of  Bosnia  and  the  Herzegovina  would  dimin- 
ish, and  perhaps  annihilate  the  influence  in  Albania  she 
had  so  dexterously  inaugurated  and  increased.  Her 
emigrant  population  could  find  no  place  of  settlement 
except  under  foreign  control.  In  the  Treaty  of  Berlin, 
when  other  powers  had  enriched  themselves  territori- 
ally, she  had  received  nothing.  The  time  seemed  ripe 
to  proclaim  her  position  as  a  truly  great  power  by 
demanding  a  share  in  the  partition  of  Africa  which 
had  been  so  diligently  carried  on  now  these  many 
years  by  England,  France,  and  Germany.  The  minis- 
ter for  foreign  affairs  of  Austria-Hungary  demanded 
and  obtained  the  assurance  that  Italy's  operations 
should  not  extend  to  the  Balkans,  and  thereafter  every 
European  state  regarded  Italy's  procedure  with  ap- 
parent indifference.  Turkey  could  not  dispatch  troops 
by  land  to  Tripoli  because  Egypt  was  in  the  possession 


THE  REVOLUTION   OF   1908  161 

of  Great  Britain,  nor  could  it  send  them  by  transport 
ships,  for  it  had  no  navy  to  protect  them.  The  best 
the  party  in  power  could  do  was  to  dispatch  an  able 
general,  Enver  Bey,  to  organize  the  resistance  of  the 
scanty  Turkish  garrisons  and  the  brave  but  undisci- 
plined Arabs. 

What  Turkey  actually  accomplished  was  an  unpleas- 
ant surprise  to  Italy.  It  so  protracted  the  struggle  as 
to  involve  Italian  finances  seriously.  It  destroyed  the 
important  trade  of  the  Italians  with  the  cities  of  Asia 
Minor.  In  short,  it  so  crippled  the  government  at 
Rome  that  the  Italian  fleet  was  sent  to  occupy  twelve 
northern  islands  of  the  iEgean  and  to  threaten  the 
Dardanelles  in  the  hope  of  intimidating  the  Porte.  At 
once  the  Dardanelles  was  closed  to  all  ships ;  the  door 
was  locked  in  the  face  of  Russia;  the  neutral  com- 
merce of  the  world  suffered  serious  damage;  and 
exasperation  among  the  Western  peoples  succeeded  to 
apparent  indifference.  With  the  sense  of  having  at 
least  done  its  best,  and  under  the  moral  pressure  of 
Europe,  Turkey  opened  negotiations  for  peace  in  July, 
19 12,  and  on  October  15  the  treaty  of  Lausanne  was 
signed  by  the  two  powers;  the  Porte  renouncing  its 
sovereignty  over  Tripoli  and  Cyrenaica,  and  provision 
being  made  for  the  exercise  of  the  Sultan's  religious 
authority  among  the  African  Moslems.  The  yEgean 
Islands  were  to  be  restored  to  Turkey  under  guarantees 
for  reform  in  the  treatment  of  their  Christian  inhabi- 
tants. 

The  situation  at  Constantinople  had  become  more  The 
perplexing  than  ever.     The  best  Turks  seemed  stupi-   Situation  at 
fled  and  withdrew  from  all  active  participation  in  af- 
fairs.     The    governing    Committee    of    Union    and 
Progress  was  now  composed  of  professional  politi- 


Constanti- 
nople 


162  THE  BALKANS 

cians.  Familiar  with  their  task,  its  members,  partly  by 
thorough  organization,  partly  by  intimidation,  secured 
in  April,  19 12,  a  majority  of  faithful  adherents  in  the 
Chamber;  a  majority,  however,  which  did  not  repre- 
sent public  opinion,  and  was  therefore  inefficient  from 
the  outset.  In  July  the  government  fell  and  made  way 
for  a  new  political  group,  known  as  the  "Party  of 
Liberal  Accord."  Ghazi  Mukhtar  Pasha  assembled 
a  group  of  excellent  men  as  a  ministry. 
The  Balkans  The    new    government    immediately    proceeded    to 

Ablaze  punish  the  leaders  in  a  riot,  which  had  occurred  in 

December,  191 1,  at  Ishtib  and  had  eventuated  in  a 
terrible  massacre  of  Christians.  Almost  instantly, 
early  in  August,  another  atrocity  of  the  same  sort  was 
perpetrated  upon  the  Bulgarians  at  Kochana.  The  new 
ministry  was  thwarted  in  its  admirable  purpose  to 
bring  these  latest  offenders  to  justice  and  carry  out 
a  policy  of  strong  conciliation  by  a  chamber  which  had 
now  grown  hostile.  The  party  of  Union  and  Progress 
returned  to  power.  Guerilla  fighting  began  on  the 
frontiers  of  both  Montenegro  and  Bulgaria.  There- 
upon news  of  the  Balkan  Alliance  reached  Constanti- 
nople. In  the  crisis  thus  precipitated.  Kiamil  Pasha,  the 
only  preeminent  figure  in  Turkish  affairs  commanding 
general  confidence,  became  Grand  Vizier.  On  October 
first  Bulgaria  mobilized  its  troops ;  the  other  Balkan 
States  did  likewise ;  and  by  the  eighth  of  October  there 
was  an  army  of  a  half  million  foes  along  the  north  and 
of  a  hundred  thousand  along  the  south.  The  govern- 
ment at  Constantinople  confiscated  all  war  material 
which  they  thought  belonged  to  the  Allies,  and  seized 
a  hundred  Greek  merchant  vessels. 

Western  Europe,  of  course,  did  not  remain  in  entire 
ignorance.    There  was  a  general  consensus  of  opinion 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF   1908  163 

that  the  inevitable  struggle  must  be  localized.  Austria- 
Hungary  avowed  her  intention  of  protecting  her  inter- 
ests in  the  Sanjak  of  Novi-Bazar,  and  put  on  foot  a 
great  army  along  the  Danube.  Russia  was  exasper- 
ated, and  arrayed  her  forces  upon  the  Galician  frontier. 
There  was  real  danger  of  a  general  European  con- 
flagration, but  France  succeeded  in  preventing  the  out- 
break of  any  actual  hostility  between  the  great  powers. 
Under  its  leadership  their  several  governments  agreed : 
first,  to  condemn  any  belligerent  action;  second,  in 
case  it  could  not  be  prevented,  to  permit  no  modifica- 
tion of  existing  territorial  boundaries;  third,  to  take 
efficient  action  for  securing  reforms  necessary  to  the 
welfare  of  the  Christians  of  European  Turkey.  These 
were  embodied  in  a  joint  note  presented  at  Cettigne 
on  October  eighth ;  in  consequence  Montenegro  im- 
mediately and  defiantly  declared  war  against  Turkey. 
This  precipitancy  was  attributed  to  Russian  influence. 
The  other  Balkan  States  presented  an  ultimatum 
to  the  Porte  demanding  autonomy  for  Macedonia, 
Christian  governors  for  the  Christian  Vilayets,  the 
withdrawal  of  Turkish  troops  and  the  substitution  of 
local  militia.  The  answer  of  Turkey  was  the  declara- 
tion of  war  against  Bulgaria  and  Servia  on  October 
17,  191 2;  and  thereupon  Greece  declared  war  against 
Turkey. 

The  course  of  the  war  displayed  no  carefully  studied  Progress  of 
strategic  plan,  at  least  as  far  as  the  Turks  were  con-  ^e  War 
cerned.  After  its  preliminary  stages,  hostilities  cen- 
tered about  the  three  great  fortified  places  of  Scutari, 
Janina,  and  Adrianople.  Elsewhere,  the  Turkish  armies 
displayed  little  resisting  power,  to  the  intense  mortifi- 
cation of  Germany,  which  had  supplied  them  with 
war  material  and  had  trained  them  to  what  was  be- 


164  THE  BALKANS 

lieved  to  be  a  high  degree  of  efficiency;  but  in  these 
three  places  the  Turkish  resistance  was  superb,  com- 
manding the  unwilling  admiration  even  of  their  foes. 
In  the  result  it  was  clear  that,  accidental  as  had  been 
this  development,  it  had  really  exhausted  the  resources 
of  the  Allies.  At  the  close  of  hostilities,  experts  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  that  General  Savoff  had  made  the 
Bulgarian  army  "the  finest  fighting-  engine  of  its  size 
in  Europe."  The  Bulgarian  people  for  ten  years  had 
concentrated  all  its  passionate  effort  to  be  ready  for 
the  inevitable  struggle. 

Possibly  the  sacrifices  of  the  Greeks  were  even  more 
remarkable.  The  little  land  had  secretly  accumulated 
a  very  substantial  reserve  of  war  funds.  From  Crete  it 
had  accepted  as  prime  minister  Venezelos,  admittedly 
a  man  of  the  highest  power  as  a  statesman.  From 
France  it  obtained  a  general,  a  number  of  staff  officers, 
and  the  necessary  artillery  and  equipment.  As  if  by 
special  grace,  financial  administration  became  thrifty 
and  excellent.  It  was  under  Greek  auspices  that  com- 
parative union  of  purpose  and  action  had  been  secured. 
The  Servia  of  191 2  was  far  different  from  the  Servia 
of  1888.  Travelers  had  been  disposed,  in  view  of 
court  and  government  scandals,  to  despise  the  Servian 
morale  and  to  belittle  the  fighting  strength  of  the 
Servians;  yet,  when  tested,  the  Servian  army  was 
found  efficient.  Her  politicians  had  been  sobered, 
her  court  chastened,  and  her  recuperation  completed. 
She,  too,  had  somehow  found  or  saved  sufficient 
money  to  refit  her  offensive  power.  As  to  Monte- 
negro, enough  has  been  said.  There  is  no  question 
of  people  and  army;  these  are  one.  Their  munition, 
although  somewhat  antiquated,  was  more  complete 
than  had  been  expected ;  indeed,   it  was  remarkable 


THE  REVOLUTION   OF   1908  165 

that   a  land   so  poor  had   accumulated   war  supplies 
at  all. 

The  Allies  had  four  armies,  numbering  in  all  seven  Success  of 
hundred  thousand  men ;  Turkey  had  barely  half  the  the  A1Ues 
number.  It  is  now  claimed  that  the  reforms  of  von 
der  Golz  had  been  in  the  main  theoretical  and  not 
actual;  that  the  Young  Turk  government  had  re- 
warded its  supporters  by  substituting  young  politicians 
for  the  former  experienced  officers.  We  hear  that 
their  system  of  transportation  was  contemptible,  their 
commissariat  worthless,  and  the  troops  themselves 
half  starved.  This  may  be  true,  but  it  is  curious  that 
Europe  thought  quite  otherwise  until,  within  three 
weeks  after  the  declaration  of  war,  Turkish  military 
strength  had  almost  vanished  from  consideration,  ex- 
cept within  the  great  fortresses.  The  theater  of  the 
war  was,  of  course,  almost  entirely  the  mountain  dis- 
tricts by  reason  of  which  the  Balkan  peninsula  is 
designated  as  it  is;  the  word  "Balkan"  meaning 
"mountains."  The  Greeks,  Bulgarians,  and  Servians 
alike  pushed  forward  through  the  frontier  passes  of 
the  various  mountain  ranges  into  Thrace,  Macedonia, 
Old  Servia,  Thessaly,  and  Epirus.  The  ensuing  en- 
gagements were  naturally  and  necessarily  of  minor 
dimensions,  resulting  in  an  apparently  prearranged 
unbroken  withdrawal  of  the  Turks.  This  lasted  for  a 
week,  when  to  the  westward  the  Servians  and  a  part 
of  the  Bulgarians  pushed  onward  in  four  columns  in 
order  to  gain  touch  with  Montenegro.  While  the 
northern  army  of  the  Allies  captured  Pristina,  pushing 
slowly  and  with  difficulty  onward,  the  southern  army 
had  even  greater  difficulty  in  reaching  Kumanovo, 
where  a  junction  was  to  be  effected.  They  met  with 
stubborn  resistance  from  Turkish  columns,  with  which 


1 66  THE  BALKANS 

they  fought  steadily  and  successfully  for  three  days, 
from  the  twenty-first  to  the  twenty-fourth  of  October. 
Again  the  Turks  slowly  withdrew,  and  the  way  to  a 
junction  of  the  three  allied  armies  was  opened.  Ueskub 
and  Koprulu  were  occupied,  and  soon  after  there  was 
a  successful  advance  upon  the  all-important  harbor 
city  of  Salonica  from  the  north.  Meanwhile  the  Greeks 
had  successfully  pushed  onward  through  Thessaly  and 
were  upon  the  edge  of  the  plain  in  which  Salonica 
stands.  The  Bulgarians  were  approaching  through 
the  valleys  of  the  Drama  and  Mesta  and  had  cut  the 
railway  line  between  Salonica  and  Constantinople. 

In  this  way  the  Turkish  army  of  the  west  was 
separated  from  that  of  the  east.  Everything  depended 
upon  the  result  of  the  struggle  before  Constantinople 
between  the  main  armies  of  Turkey  and  her  foes.  The 
Bulgarians  advanced  in  separate  columns  with  a  front 
stretching  from  Tirnovo  to  the  Maritza  River.  This 
was  a  necessary  risk,  but  the  adventure  succeeded. 
They  passed  the  mountain  range  successfully,  and 
met  the  Turkish  enemy  at  Kirk-Kilisseh.  Again  the 
Turks  drew  off  and  the  Bulgarians  invested  Adriano- 
ple.  The  principal  Turkish  force,  after  several  days 
of  desultory  fighting,  lasting  from  the  twenty-ninth  of 
October  to  the  second  of  November,  withdrew  for  a 
last  stand  behind  the  lines  of  Chataldja. 
Efforts  for  This   seemed   to    France  the   proper   moment    for 

Peace  European  intervention,  on  the  basis  of  recognizing  the 

political  changes  wrought  by  the  war,  and  guaranteeing 
the  Turkish  sovereignty  in  Constantinople  with  a  small 
bordering  territory  to  the  westward.  The  Powers 
could  not  agree.  Before  December  first,  the  Servians 
had  defied  Austria-Hungary  and  occupied  Durazzo  on 
the  Adriatic.        The  Greeks  justly  claimed  to  have 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF   1908  167 

captured  Salonica,  although  a  vanguard  of  Bulgarians 
insisted  on  being  admitted  as  part  of  the  garrison. 
The  Chataldja  lines  held  firm.  All  parties  by  this 
time  began  to  feel  the  strain,  and  on  December  third, 
an  armistice  was  signed  as  between  Turkey  on  the  one 
side,  Bulgaria,  Servia,  and  Montenegro  on  the  other, 
Greece  refusing  its  signature  because  as  yet  Janina, 
invested  by  its  forces,  had  not  fallen,  nor  had  the 
Greek  fleet  been  able  to  occupy  the  islands  of  the 
/Egean.  A  Peace  Conference  composed  of  representa- 
tives of  all  the  belligerents  met  at  London  on  Decem- 
ber thirteenth.  The  proposals  of  the  Allies  and  the 
counter  proposals  of  the  Turks  exhibited  so  wide  a 
difference  of  feeling  that  the  ensuing  debates  were 
utterly  aside  from  the  mark  and  almost  absurd.  Never- 
theless, when  on  New  Year's  Day,  19 13,  the  Turkish 
delegates  presented  what  they  called  an  irreducible 
minimum,  their  terms  still  seemed  to  the  Allies  quite 
as  impossible  as  before,  suggesting  as  they  did  a 
virtual  dissolution  of  the  alliance  and  offering  inade- 
quate concessions  of  territory.  In  fact,  Turkey  ap- 
peared to  the  Western  world  rather  like  an  Oriental 
merchant  haggling  in  a  bazaar  than  like  a  serious 
negotiator. 

Should  the  new  Ottoman  empire  still  retain  Adrian-  Progress  of 
ople,  which  the  Turks  regarded  as  their  Holy  City  Negotiations 
and  the  Bulgarians  as  an  indispensable  frontier 
fortress?  Could  Turkey  be  permitted  to  retain  the 
Greek  islands  of  Imbros,  Tenedos,  and  Lemnos  because 
she  held  them  essential  to  the  protection  of  the  Dar- 
danelles, and  others  such  as  Mitylene  because  she 
thought  them  a  part  of  Asiatic  Turkey?  Apparently, 
too,  the  Balkan  Allies  had  agreed  to  "partition"  Al- 
bania among  themselves.     Austria-Hungary  with  the 


1 68  THE  BALKANS 

moral  support  of  Italy  imperatively  demanded  that  the 
doubtful  boundaries  of  that  land  should  be  settled  and 
that  some  kind  of  autonomy  should  be  given  in 
recognition  of  its  inchoate  nationality.  How  should 
the  European  usurers  who  had  loaned  money  to  the 
Ottoman  empire  on  the  security  of  its  former  posses- 
sions apportion  to  the  enlarged  Balkan  States  the  re- 
spective shares  of  the  obligations  they  should  assume? 
Finally,  what  was  to  become  of  the  railway  lines, 
nominally  belonging  to  the  Turkish  government,  in 
reality  to  Austro-Hungarian  companies,  who  held 
their  obligations?  In  view  of  the  very  delicate  nature 
of  the  Balkan  alliance,  these  questions  were  really  of 
appalling  importance,  a  fact  well  understood  by  the 
Turkish  delegates  in  the  Peace  Conference.  The 
sequel  proved  how  shrewd  and  unscrupulous  they  were 
in  the  use  of  these  centrifugal  forces.  Throughout  the 
month  of  January  they  practiced  dilatory  tactics,  and 
the  war  went  on.  Turkish  forces  repulsed  all  the  at- 
tacks upon  the  Chataldja  lines,  upon  the  fortresses  of 
Adrianople,  Janina,  and  Scutari.  Public  opinion  in 
Constantinople  became  defiant.  The  ministry  of 
Kiamil,  aware  that  the  Balkan  Allies  were  exhausting 
their  resources,  struggled  to  allay  the  rising  war  spirit. 
Rumania  scouts  the  idea  that  she  is  a  Balkan  State, 
holding  herself  vastly  superior  in  all  respects  to  her 
Slav  neighbors  on  both  sides.  She  had  long  demanded 
what  she  called  the  rectification  of  her  Bulgarian 
frontier.  In  other  words,  her  military  preparations 
being  now  complete,  she  was  awaiting  a  propitious 
moment  to  demand  from  Bulgaria  both  Silistria,  as  an 
indispensable  frontier  fortress,  and  Varna,  as  a  desir- 
able harbor  on  the  Euxine.  What  was  the  extent  of 
her  land  greed  did  not  actually  appear.   Simultaneously 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF   1908  169 

with  the  sessions  of  the  peace  negotiators  in  London 
were  held  meetings  of  the  ambassadors  to  Great 
Britain  from  the  great  powers.  During  their  con- 
ferences, Austria-Hungary,  as  the  frontier  state  of 
civilized  Europe,  made  very  insistent  demands.  Servia 
should  have  no  harbor  on  the  Adriatic.  The  war  cry 
of  the  Allies  was  "The  Balkan  peninsula  for  the  Bal- 
kan peoples."  Very  well ;  the  Albanians  are  a  Balkan 
people;  why  should  they  be  put  under  Slav  dominion 
if  Slavs  were  to  be  freed  from  that  of  the  Turks? 
Accordingly,  the  principle,  at  least,  of  Albanian  auton- 
omy and  Albanian  nationality  was  admitted,  with  the 
single  modification  that  in  some  way  Servia  should 
receive  on  the  Adriatic  a  free  harbor  and  unrestrained 
use  of  a  railway  connection  with  it. 

Naturally,  all  these  dilatory  and  contradictory 
recommendations  let  loose  a  flood  of  discussion.  Feel- 
ing rose  so  high  in  the  Balkan  States,  and,  indeed, 
throughout  Europe,  that  finally  the  ambassadors  in 
London  proposed  that  the  corresponding  ambassadors 
at  Constantinople  should  bring  pressure  to  bear  upon 
the  Porte  for  the  conclusion  of  peace.  In  pursuance 
of  this  recommendation,  a  collective  note  was  written 
and  presented  on  January  17,  191 3,  advising  the  ces- 
sion of  Adrianople  to  the  Allies  and  the  reference  to 
the  Powers  of  what  would  be  the  ultimate  disposition 
of  the  Mgean  Islands.  With  proper  caution  the  min- 
istry summoned  the  Grand  Council  of  the  Ottoman 
empire,  and  on  January  twenty-second  that  august 
body  accepted  the  "advice"  so  imperiously  given. 
Young  Turkey  was  furious,  and  the  very  next  morn- 
ing Enver  Bey,  who  had  successfully  engineered  the 
latest  revolution,  who  had  covered  himself  with  glory 
in  Tripolis,  and  was  the  darling  of  the  Young  Turks, 


i7o  THE  BALKANS 

headed  a  mob  and  demanded  the  resignation  of  Kiamil 
and  his  colleagues.  A  new  ministry  was  formed  with 
Mahmud  Shefket  Pasha  as  Grand  Vizier.  To  this 
ministry  a  week  was  granted  for  formulating  a  reply 
to  the  collective  note.  Meantime,  all  the  belligerents 
had  been  resting  on  their  arms  during  a  very  uneasy 
armistice.  The  new  Turkish  ministry  could  come  to 
no  agreement,  and  on  January  29  the  peace  representa- 
tives of  the  Balkan  States  at  London  denounced  the 
armistice  and  ordered  the  resumption  of  hostilities  on 
February  3.  This  action  produced  immediate  results. 
On  the  first  of  February  the  Grand  Vizier  replied  to 
the  collective  note  that  Turkey  would  accede  to  the 
proposition  about  the  ^Egean  Islands,  but  demanded 
that  the  portion  of  Adrianople  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Maritza  River,  containing  the  Turkish  sanctuaries  and 
a  Turkish  population,  should  remain  Turkish.  Two 
days  later  the  representatives  of  Great  Britain  and 
Germany  at  Sophia,  the  latter  in  rather  peremptory 
language,  urged  upon  the  Bulgarian  government  the 
acceptance  of  this  offer.  To  this  they  replied  that  the 
Turkish  communication  was  only  another  subterfuge 
in  the  long  game  of  procrastination,  which  had  already 
lasted  two  months,  and  that  very  evening  the  bombard- 
ment of  Adrianople  was  renewed. 
Second  Stage  This  marked  the  second  stage  of  the  war  between 
of  the  War  Turkey  and  the  Balkan  Allies.  From  the  military 
point  of  view  it  was  quite  different  from  the  first.  The 
chief  strength  of  both  parties  was  concentrated  on 
either  side  of  the  Chataldja  lines.  There  the  opposing 
forces  remained,  jealously  observing  one  the  other, 
manifestly  in  a  state  of  considerable  exhaustion.  For 
tactical  reasons  the  Bulgarians  retreated  a  short  dis- 
tance from  their  previous  position.    To  the  chief  com- 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF   1908  171 

manders  of  both  hostile  forces  a  direct  frontal  attack 
seemed  impossible,  and  what  movements  there  were 
tended  toward  the  execution,  if  opportunity  should 
present,  of  flank  movements,  the  Allies  with  a  view  to 
advancing  toward  Constantinople,  the  Turks  toward 
Adrianople.  Persistent  and  continuous  efforts  were 
made  by  Turkey  to  land  fresh  forces  in  the  harbor 
cities  along  the  coasts  of  the  Black  Sea  and  on  the 
shores  of  the  Sea  of  Marmora;  the  almost  microscopic 
navy  of  Bulgaria  and  the  larger,  better-equipped,  and 
more  efficient  sea  power  of  Greece  rendered  these  ef- 
forts completely  futile.  The  Turks  could  neither  sur- 
round the  Bulgarians  nor  did  the  Bulgarians  succeed 
in  occupying  the  peninsula  of  Gallipoli. 

About  all  these  movements  there  was  an  air  of  lassi- 
tude, characteristic  of  exhaustion.  The  siege  opera- 
tions, however,  were  energetic  in  the  highest  degree, 
and  after  a  superb  and  heroic  resistance  Adrianople 
fell  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  March.  Two  weeks  earlier 
Janina,  beset  by  the  Greeks  after  a  series  of  minor 
victories  in  Epirus,  had  opened  its  gates  to  the  conquer- 
ors. The  surviving  fragments  of  Turkish  military 
power  in  the  west  surrendered  on  the  Lake  of  Ochrida, 
although  they  were  much  diminished  in  number  by  the 
withdrawal  of  many  bands  under  Djavid  into  Albania. 
Scutari  had  displayed  powers  of  resistance  which  al- 
most paralyzed  the  Servian  and  Montenegrin  forces 
for  a  time;  but  the  gallant  garrison,  threatened  with 
starvation,  finally  marched  out  with  all  the  honors  of 
war.  Whether  or  not  the  surrender  was  entirely  in 
good  faith  is  a  mooted  question.  Many  believed  there 
was  a  secret  bargain  with  certain  leaders  among  the 
besieged.  King  Nicholas  entered  and  celebrated  the 
Greek  Easter  festival  within  the  fortifications  amid  the 


172  THE  BALKANS 

ruins  of  the  town,  but  his  tenure  of  the  place  which 
lie  announced  to  be  the  future  capital  of  Montenegro 
and  his  exultation  were  of  short  duration.  The  Allies 
were  now  in  possession  of  all  Turkey  in  Europe  west 
of  the  Chataldja  lines,  but  the  insistence  of  Aus- 
tria that  some  kind  of  national  existence  should  be 
secured  for  Albania,  rendered  imperative  an  inter- 
national occupation  of  Scutari,  and  it  was  a  crestfallen 
monarch  who,  as  gracefully  as  he  might,  handed  over 
the  fruits  of  his  hard-earned  victory  to  a  composite 
force  of  marines  under  the  command  of  a  British 
admiral.  As  we  have  indicated,  the  movements  of  the 
Balkan  fleets  were  of  considerable  importance,  but  they 
were  not  marked  by  any  tactical  regularity,  and  had 
absolutely  no  connection  with  the  military  movements 
by  land. 
Partial  and  All  Europe  had  lived  throughout  these  portions  of 

Temporary  the  war  in  a  state  of  nervous  uneasiness  lest  the  West- 
ern powers  should  be  drawn  to  a  greater  or  less  degree 
into  hostile  relations  with  each  other.  Indeed,  at  one 
juncture,  both  Russia  and  Austria-Hungary  mobilized 
a  considerable  portion  of  their  respective  armies,  but 
their  reciprocal  fears  were  allayed  by  the  dispositions 
of  the  ambassadorial  conferences  in  London,  and  by 
the  acquiescence  of  the  Balkan  plenipotentiaries  at  the 
same  capital  in  a  peace  which  fixed  the  western  bound- 
ary of  Turkey  in  Europe  by  a  line  extending  more  or 
less  irregularly  from  Enos,  a  village  on  the  ^gean, 
to  Midia,  a  town  on  the  Black  Sea.  In  this  temporary 
peace  the  question  of  the  TEgean  Islands,  alike  those 
which  command  the  entrance  to  the  Dardanelles  and 
those  so  close  to  the  shores  of  Asia  Minor  that  they 
virtually  dominate  it  strategically,  was  left  unsettled. 
It  was  understood  that  the  Balkan  States  had  already 


Peace 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF   1908  173 

agreed  as  to  the  division  among  themselves  of  all  the 
Ottoman  possessions  in  Europe.  This  was  true,  had 
the  Albanian  question  not  been  opened  as  it  was.  If 
there  were  to  be  a  semiautonomous  Albania,  all  previ- 
ous calculations  were  overthrown,  and  the  apple  of  dis- 
cord was  flung  into  the  very  midst  of  an  alliance 
formed  with  difficulty,  marked  by  mutual  suspicion, 
and  existing  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances  in 
unstable  equilibrium. 

Accordingly,  on  the  conclusion  of  this  so-called  Discord 
peace,  marking  the  end  of  the  second  stage  of  the  war,  Among  the 
not  one  of  the  Balkan  powers  began  to  disarm.  Quite 
the  contrary;  they  put  forth  spasmodic,  and  in  some 
cases  efficient,  efforts  to  increase  their  military  power. 
Were  Bulgaria  to  retain  all  the  lands  marked  by  her 
for  annexation  before  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  she 
would  have  a  territorial  aggrandizement  completely 
oversetting  the  Balkan  balance  of  power;  while,  if  Al- 
bania were  to  be  withdrawn  from  the  respective  shares 
of  Greece,  Montenegro,  and  Servia,  their  expectations 
of  enlargement  would  be  bitterly  disappointed,  at  least 
as  to  degree.  Whether  wittingly  or  not,  Bulgaria  left 
upon  an  observant  world  an  impression  of  dictatorial 
arrogance.  It  was  she  who  had  furnished  for  the 
conflict,  as  her  people  firmly  believed,  the  most  efficient 
army,  had  borne  the  fiercest  brunt  of  battle,  and  who 
ought  therefore  to  secure  the  largest  share  in  the  booty. 

Suddenly  Rumania  unmasked  her  plans.  She  ap- 
peared to  herself  and  others  in  the  light  of  a  Balkan 
arbitrator.  With  a  shrewd  though  selfish  policy,  and 
managed  by  a  wise,  experienced  band  of  statesmen, 
headed  by  a  trusted  sovereign,  she  was  also  backed  by 
a  superb  army.  It  was  perfectly  clear  that  she  would 
not  permit  the  readjustment  of  frontiers  so  as  to  leave 


174  THE  BALKANS 

herself  without  such  compensations  as  to  insure  at  least 
her  equality  in  the  Balkan  balance  of  power.  The 
tension  after  the  so-called  peace  was  like  that  of  a  live 
electric  wire,  and  it  could  only  be  a  question  whether 
in  the  third  stage  of  Balkan  struggles  the  larger  Europe 
could  again  refrain  from  intervention  and  leave  the 
ultimate  decision  in  the  hands  of  the  weary  but  not 
discouraged  combatants. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  April  the  armistice  of  Bulair 
had  been  signed  by  Bulgaria,  Greece,  and  Servia. 
Scutari  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  Montenegro  on 
the  twenty-third ;  the  truce  had  then  become  general 
and  thereupon  hostilities  between  Turkey  and  the  Bal- 
kan allies  came  to  an  end,  at  least  for  the  time  being. 
It  has  already  been  explained  that  for  her  own  particu- 
lar reasons  Austria-Hungary  made  the  creation  of  an 
autonomous  Albania  a  basic  condition  of  the  ultimate 
settlement.  Throughout  Russia  the  fall  of  Scutari  had 
created  an  almost  universal  enthusiasm,  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  powers  of  Western  and  Central  Europe 
demanded,  and  secured,  almost  instantly,  the  evacua- 
tion of  the  town  by  the  Montenegrins.  On  the 
fourteenth  of  May  representatives  of  the  Six  Powers 
took  possession  of  the  place  on  behalf  of  the  inchoate 
principality  of  Albania.  Thus,  and  thus  only,  was  it 
possible  to  prevent  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  between 
Russia  and  Austria-Hungary.  Shortly  after,  delegates 
from  the  states  engaged  in  the  war  met  at  London  and 
opened  a  second  conference.  Under  the  pressure  of 
the  Six  Great  Powers,  exercised  in  a  cogent  warning 
by  Sir  Edward  Grey,  an  agreement  was  reached  and  a 
treaty  signed  on  the  thirtieth  of  that  month.  Turkey 
was  to  surrender  Crete  and  all  the  continental  land 
west  of  the  Enos-Midia  line.    The  delimitation  of  Al- 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF   1908  175 

bania  and  the  question  of  the  iEgean  Islands  were  to  be 
the  affair  of  the  Powers,  and  financial  questions  were 
to  be  adjusted  by  an  international  commission,  which 
would  be  summoned  in  due  time  to  meet  at  Paris. 

Immediately  thereafter,  however,  the  question  of 
how  to  apportion  the  surrendered  territories  among  the 
victors  became  acute.  Bulgaria  was  persistent  in 
claiming  most  of  Macedonia,  including  Salonica  and 
Monastir;  Servia  clamored  for  that  greater  share  of 
Macedonia  which  the  Serbo-Bulgarian  treaty  of  March 
13,  1912,  had  allotted  to  her;  Greece  avowed  her  right 
to  both  Salonica  and  Kavala  on  the  basis  of  conquest; 
Rumania  demanded  from  Bulgaria,  as  compensation 
for  her  neutrality,  a  cession  of  important  territories  in 
order  to  secure  her  share  of  the  booty  and  a  strategic 
frontier.  So  alarming  was  the  state  of  public  opinion 
in  each  of  these  states  that  the  Czar  proposed  to 
mediate.  He  met  with  a  chilling  repulse,  and  Bulgaria, 
encouraged,  as  is  generally  believed,  by  Austro-Hun- 
garian  influence,  gradually  renewed  hostilities  not  only 
with  her  one-time  allies  but  with  Turkey  and  Rumania 
as  well.  There  were  conflicts  with  the  Greeks  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Panghaion  and  a  three  days'  battle  at 
Slatovo  with  the  Servians.  This  was  on  the  thirtieth 
of  June.  Five  days  later  diplomatic  relations  with 
Greece  and  Servia  were  suspended,  and  Montenegro 
declared  war  against  Bulgaria.  Her  example  was  fol- 
lowed by  Rumania  on  the  tenth,  and,  as  if  by  prear- 
rangement,  the  Turks  advanced  on  Adrianople, 
reoccupying  it  on  the  twenty-second  of  July. 

To  the  Rumanian  invasion  no  resistance  was  made, 
but  against  the  advance  of  the  Greeks  there  was  a 
show  of  orderly  warfare.  The  Greek  armies  could  not 
be  checked,  and,  while  those  of  Rumania  were  advanc- 


176  THE  BALKANS 

ing  toward  Sophia  from  the  north,  those  of  Greece 
were  coming  up  the  Struma  River  toward  the  same 
goal.  The  Servian  armies  were  likewise  successful  in 
their  movements,  and  were  menacing  the  Bulgarian 
town  of  Kustendil,  whence  they,  too,  threatened  to 
move  upon  Sophia.  Surrounded  on  all  sides  by  suc- 
cessful invaders,  Bulgaria  expressed  the  desire  to  treat 
for  peace.  Unable  to  enforce  any  claims  whatsoever, 
with  an  army  utterly  exhausted,  and  compassed  about 
by  victorious  enemies  embittered  more  than  ever  be- 
fore, she  assented  to  the  terms  laid  down  at  Bucharest 
by  the  representatives  of  her  foes  and  emerged  from 
the  long  struggle  not  only  shorn  of  her  military  pres- 
tige but  with  territorial  gains  almost  contemptible. 
The  frontier  demanded  by  Rumania  was  granted ;  to 
Servia  were  ceded  Kotchana  and  Radovisht ;  to  Greece, 
Salonica,  Doiran,  Demir-Hissar,  Seres,  Drama,  and 
Kavala.  From  all  her  exorbitant  claims  in  Macedonia 
she  secured  only  the  town  of  Strumnitza  and  those  dis- 
tricts of  the  .^Egean  shore  between  the  rivers  Mesta  and 
Maritza.  The  line  between  Servia  and  Greece  was  so 
drawn  that  Monastir  fell  to  the  former,  Vodena  and 
Fiorina  to  the  latter.  Montenegro  received  from 
Servia  about  one  half  of  the  Sanjak  of  Novi-Bazar. 

It  is  fairly  claimed  by  the  dismayed  opponents  of 
armed  peace  that  the  recent  enormous  expenditure 
imposed  by  Germany  upon  herself  in  order  to  raise  the 
peace  footing  of  her  army  to  900,000  men,  an  expendi- 
ture of  $300,000,000  in  our  money,  which  will  result 
in  an  increase  of  the  annual  budget  by  $45,000,000,  is 
altogether  due  to  the  rise  of  Slavic  power  in  Eastern 
Europe.  Since  her  humiliation  by  Japan,  Russia  has 
virtually  doubled  her  military  strength,  and  now 
the  south   Slavs  have  become  a   force   of   the  first 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF   1908  177 

importance.  Simultaneously,  France  has  reestab- 
lished the  three  years'  period  of  compulsory 
military  service  and  expended  $200,000,000  on 
her  army  and  navy.  Austria-Hungary  demands 
$240,000,000  to  make  her  military  force  by  land  and 
sea  more  efficient ;  as  well  as  a  permanent  increase  in 
her  annual  budget,  in  order  that  she  may  enlarge  her 
standing  army  by  80,000  men.  About  these  figures 
there  is  absolute  certitude.  Italy  is  occupied  with  simi- 
lar designs,  while  Great  Britain,  followed  by  Spain  and 
the  lesser  powers,  has  caught  the  infection. 

In  the  panic  on  the  Berlin  Exchange,  brought  on  by 
the  declaration  of  hostilities  in  the  Balkans,  there  was 
a  shrinkage  in  values  of  $1,000,000,000,  and  the  other 
money  centers  of  Europe  were  similarly  affected.  The 
financial  disturbances  of  recent  years  began  when 
Austria-Hungary  announced  the  annexation  of  Bosnia 
and  the  Herzegovina.  Instantly,  Bulgaria  asserted  her 
claims  and  displayed  a  like  contempt  for  the  Treaty  of 
Berlin,  for  thirty  years  the  public  law  of  Europe.  A 
little  later  Italy  seized  Tripoli,  and  the  climax  of  the 
whole  disorder  was  the  Balkan  War  of  1913.  The 
results  are  not  edifying  and  probably  insecure.  Bul- 
garia has  increased  her  territory  by  25,200  square  kilo- 
meters and  nearly  one  half  a  million  inhabitants,  Servia 
by  35,500  square  kilometers  and  1,290,000  inhabitants; 
Greece  by  56,000  square  kilometers  and  1,900,000 
inhabitants.  On  the  other  side  of  the  balance  sheet  are 
these  mournful  facts:  Servia  lost  71,000,  dead  and 
wounded;  Montenegro,  11,200;  Greece,  68,000;  Bul- 
garia, 156,000;  Turkey,  150,000.  These  appalling 
losses  were  of  soldiers  in  the  ranks.  It  is  not  possible, 
even  approximately,  to  estimate  those  who  died  from 
outrage,  massacre,  and  disease.    For  military  purposes, 


i78  THE  BALKANS 

the  maintenance  and  mobilization  of  armies,  and  the 
distribution  of  war  materials,  these  countries  expended 
about  one  and  a  half  billion  dollars.  The  economic 
disaster  consequent  upon  losses  in  commerce,  manu- 
factures, and  agriculture  cannot  possibly  be  repre- 
sented in  figures. 

These  wars,  as  we  have  explained,  were  ostensibly, 
and  we  are  fain  to  believe,  in  a  measure,  really  under- 
taken to  emancipate  from  the  horrors  of  Turkish  mis- 
government  the  kinsfolk  of  the  various  nationalities. 
Beyond  any  peradventure  they  turned  almost  immedi- 
ately into  a  f  reebooting  expedition  to  despoil  Turkey ; 
their  close  was  marked  by  the  most  shocking  exhibi- 
tions of  greed  and  violence  in  the  distribution  of  the 
spoils.1 

Furthermore,  the  final  terms  of  settlement,  as  laid 
clown  in  the  treaty  of  Bucharest  on  August  10,  paid 
little  regard  to  the  "nationalities"  of  the  inhabitants 
living  on  the  various  lands  apportioned  to  the  combat- 
ants. A  glance  at  a  good  ethnographic  map  will  show 
that  Rumania,  by  the  extension  of  her  southeastern 
frontier,  acquired  many  new  subjects,  a  majority  of 
whom  were  Turks;  that  Bulgaria  under  compulsion 
abandoned  great  numbers  of  those  whom  she  had 
loudly  declared  to  be  her  kinsfolk  in  Kotchana  and 
Radovisht  to  Servia  on  the  one  side,  and  on  the  other 
to  Greece  a  great  slice  of  Macedonia,  including 
Salonica  and  Kavala,  which  presumably  swarmed  with 
so-called  Bulgarians.  The  Greeks  had  to  be  content 
when  their  kinspeople  in  Monastir  were  assigned  to 
Servia,  while  Servia  granted  to  Montenegro,  as  has 


1  A  Few  Lessons  Taught  by  the  Balkan  War,  by  Alfred  H.  Friend,  published  in 
the  International  Conciliation  Series. 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF   1908  179 

been  told,  about  one  half  of  the  coveted  Sanjak  of 
Novi-Bazar  with  its  Servian  population. 

By  the  treaty  of  Constantinople  the  line  between 
Turkey  and  Bulgaria,  the  two  contracting  powers,  was 
arranged  partly  with  reference  to  the  mandate  of  the 
great  powers  concerning  the  Enos-Midia  line,  but  by 
substantial  deviations  at  both  ends  and  in  such  a  way 
as  to  keep  Adrianople  under  Turkish  rule.  Bulgaria 
could  not  even  secure  control  of  the  railway  connec- 
tions with  the  one  new  port  on  the  iEgean  which  she 
had  acquired,  and  incurred  serious  losses  in  establish- 
ing her  authority  over  the  portion  of  Thrace  allotted 
to  her. 

There  is  a  sense  in  which  the  new  Albania  may  be 
considered  almost  a  joke.  A  recent  traveler  in  Epirus 
declares  the  Albanian  nation  to  be  a  myth.  Its  inhabi- 
tants roundly  and  persistently  declare  themselves  to  be 
Greeks.  Even  the  Mussulmans  of  that  land  permit  no 
one  to  call  them  Albanians,  asserting  their  undiluted 
Hellenic  character.  The  next  generation  of  their 
descendants,  it  is  declared,  await  only  a  sufficient 
inducement  on  the  part  of  the  Greek  government  to 
become  orthodox  Greek  Christians,  as  their  remote 
ancestors  were.  The  international  commissions  have 
been  steadily  at  work  determining  the  frontiers  and 
announce  their  work  as  completed,  but  the  guerilla 
warfare  directed  against  the  Servians  did  not  until 
within  a  doubtful  recent  limit  stop  for  a  moment,  if, 
indeed,  it  ever  will,  and  there  is  probably  no  greater 
hotbed  of  Hellenism  than  Koritza,  which  has  been 
assigned  to  Albania.  When,  finally,  the  frontiers  shall 
have  been  not  only  definitely  surveyed,  but  ac- 
cepted, it  will  take  years  of  constant,  watchful  inter- 
vention   on    the    part    of    the    Western    powers    to 


180  THE  BALKANS 

maintain  anything  like  order,  and  the  moral  effect 
of  trampling  under  foot  the  whole  doctrine  of 
nationality,  for  which  war  was  ostensibly  waged,  will 
be  deplorable.  The  Hoti  and  Gruda  tribes  of  the 
north  have  refused  to  acknowledge  Montenegrin 
sovereignty,  and  the  town  of  Tuzi  has  been  seized  and 
occupied  by  the  Malissores.  When  Servia  finally 
crossed  the  northern  border  and  captured  a  chieftain  of 
the  Albanian  marauders,  Austria-Hungary  presented 
an  ultimatum  at  Belgrade  demanding  the  prompt  with- 
drawal of  Servian  troops  behind  their  own  frontier  and 
Servia  acquiesced.  For  a  time  there  was  a  provisional 
"republic,"  styling  itself  a  government,  at  Avlona,  and 
a  native  Albanian  "king"  reigning  at  Durazzo,  while 
a  British  admiral  governed  Scutari.  An  attempt  in 
January  of  this  year  (1914)  to  create  a  throne  for  a 
Turkish  prince  was  thwarted  by  the  joint  military 
action  of  the  great  powers  and  the  vigilance  of  Italy. 
The  International  Commission  of  Control  has  its  seat 
at  Avlona.  There  are  six  members,  representing  the 
Six  Great  Powers,  which  by  correspondence  have 
finally  agreed  upon  Prince  William  Frederick  of  Wied, 
a  German  Protestant  and  a  nephew  of  Queen  Elizabeth 
of  Rumania,  as  the  first  ruler  of  the  autonomous  Alba- 
nia, yet  to  be.  His  subjects  will  comprise  not  only 
Mussulmans  but  Catholic  Christians,  both  Greek  and 
Roman.  How  these  three  antagonistic  elements  can 
endure  the  sway  of  a  Protestant  remains  to  be  seen. 
He  himself  regards  the  dignity  of  such  a  throne  with- 
out enthusiasm.  The  task,  however,  appeals  to  his  sense 
of  duty.  He  enters  upon  it  with  a  full  comprehension 
of  the  problem,  and  has  displayed  great  firmness  in 
securing  an  auspicious  beginning. 


VII 

THE    FORMATION     OF    THE     BALKAN 
ALLIANCE 


181 


VII 

THE  FORMATION  OF  THE  BALKAN  ALLIANCE1 

The  states  of  the  Balkan  peninsula  are,  as  we  have  The  Principle 
probably  made  clear  in  the  preceding  chapters,  still  in  of  Nationality 
the  condition  of  political  apprentices.  Certain  of  the 
prominent  principles  of  European  politics  they  have 
grasped  with  a  firmness  which  amounts  in  many  cases 
to  foolish  obstinacy.  For  example,  they  have  a  fanati- 
cal regard  for  what  they  call  "the  principle  of  national- 
ity," a  principle  not  well  understood  even  in  Western 
Europe,  and  by  them  based  upon  preposterous  assump- 
tions. They  likewise  know  only  too  well  the  whole 
sad  story  of  the  Balance-of-Power  doctrine  in  Western 
Europe,  and  its  corollary,  the  idea  of  Compensation;  of 
Constitutions  they  are  continuously  prating  in  a  way 
which  makes  perfectly  clear  that  the  alphabet  of  consti- 
tutional government  has  not  yet  been  learned  by  them. 
In  preceding  chapters,  the  difficulties  which  lie  athwart 
the  formation  of  a  permanent  Balkan  alliance  have 
presented  themselves  in  every  connection. 

In  one  of  his  admirable  political  studies,  James 
Bryce,  after  a  comprehensive  examination,  made  ap- 
parently upon  the  spot,  of  the  Balkan  peoples,  sug- 
gested that  there  was  but  one  possible  solution  of  the 
problem  as  to  how  Turkish  tyranny  and  oppression 
were  to  be  ended  definitely  in  Europe.  He  spoke  of  a 
federation  including  all  the  then  independent  and  semi- 

'Compare  a  series  of  articles  in  the  London  Times  published  between  June  6 
and  16,  1913. 

183 


1 84 


THE  BALKANS 


Futile  Efforts 

Toward 

Alliance 


independent  young  slates,  which  could  both  throw 
off  the  Turkish  yoke  and  if  cemented  by  reciprocal 
good  will  could  best  solve  the  problem  of  Constanti- 
nople. We  propose  to  outline  as  accurately  as  the  infor- 
mation obtainable  will  permit  how  the  temporary 
federation  for  this  purpose  was  secured. 

After  the  Russo-Turkish  war  of  1877,  and  the 
adoption  of  those  principles  for  international  con- 
trol known  as  the  Treaty  of  Berlin,  suggestions 
of  alliance  secured  some  slight  attention  even  in 
the  Balkan  States.  The  Treaty  of  Berlin  utterly 
ignored  the  so-called  principle  of  nationality.  At  the 
time,  and  since,  the  leaders  in  each  of  those  states 
sought  diligently  some  basis  for  lines  of  national 
demarcation.  In  the  case  of  Rumania,  as  we  have  seen, 
it  was  not  difficult  to  find  them,  and,  in  a  way,  the 
Greek  nation  was  likewise  discernible;  but  when  it 
came  to  distinguishing  Servians  from  Croats,  to  deter- 
mining exactly  what  the  Bulgarian  was  and  where  he 
dwelled  ;  when,  further,  it  came  to  settling  the  question 
of  how  Rumanians  and  Kutzovlachs  who  did  not  live 
within  the  kingdom  of  Rumania  were  to  be  treated  by 
the  other  race  elements,  there  appeared  powerful  and 
uncontrollable  centrifugal  forces. 

Servia  has  not  produced  many  statesmen.  One  of 
the  few,  Ristitch,  suggested  that  a  reformed  and  con- 
stitutional Turkey  might  cooperate  with  Bulgaria. 
Greece,  and  Servia  in  a  confederation  for  the  im- 
provement of  conditions  which  had  become  intolerable. 
King  Charles  of  Rumania  and  Prince  Alexander  of 
Bulgaria  expressed  some  interest  in  such  a  project. 
When,  however,  Eastern  Rumelia  rose  in  revolt  in  1885 
and  was  substantially  incorporated  in  a  Bulgaria  quite 
different  in  dimensions  from  that  contemplated  by  the 


FORMATION  OF  BALKAN  ALLIANCE    185 

Treaty  of  Berlin,  neither  Servia  nor  Greece  would  any 
longer  entertain  the  idea.  Bulgaria,  thus  aggrandized, 
was  already  a  menace  to  the  balance  of  power  in  the 
Balkans,  and  both  these  states  demanded  compensation. 
As  we  have  seen,  Milan,  the  king  of  Servia,  supported 
by  Austria-Hungary,  actually  went  to  war  with  Bul- 
garia, but  suffered  a  humiliating  defeat  at  its  hands. 
The  powers  of  Western  Europe  joined  in  a  naval 
demonstration  against  Greece  in  order  to  quench  her 
ambitions,  and  Russia,  by  means  of  her  secret  agents  at 
Sophia,  brought  about  the  fall  of  Prince  Alexander. 
Thereafter,  for  a  considerable  time,  the  situation  was 
exactly  reversed  as  regarded  the  exercise  of  Russian 
influence  in  the  Balkans.  Stambuloff,  the  Bulgarian 
prime  minister,  resisted  the  Czar's  influence  success- 
fully, while  Servia  became  his  creature.  The  feeling 
between  these  two  states  was  therefore  even  more  em- 
bittered than  hitherto.  Austria-Hungary  gave  at  least 
her  moral  support  to  Ferdinand,  the  new  prince  of 
Bulgaria.  It  seemed  as  if  the  idea  of  a  Balkan  alliance 
could  be  nothing  more  than  a  dream. 

In  1 89 1,  however,  Tricoupis,  the  well-known  Greek 
statesman,  paid  a  personal  visit  to  both  Belgrade  and 
Sophia  in  the  hope  of  reviving  the  idea  and  securing 
military  support  for  a  campaign  against  Turkey. 
Naturally,  the  question  of  dividing  what  remained  of 
Turkey  in  Europe  among  the  three  was  uppermost  in 
the  minds  of  all.  With  characteristic  insight,  he  had 
convinced  himself  that,  in  the  case  of  an  attack  upon 
the  Ottoman  power,  the  Western  nations  would  not 
interfere.  He  must  likewise  have  had  a  secret  under- 
standing of  Rumania's  policy  of  isolation,  for  he  did 
not  visit  Bucharest.  At  both  Belgrade  and  Sophia  he 
thoroughly  discussed  the  principle  of  mutual  concession 


1 86 


THE  BALKANS 


Twenty 
Years  of 
Diplomacy 


when  the  time  should  be  ripe  for  the  partition  of  the 
Turkish  possessions.  This  principle,  however,  remained 
and  is  likely  always  to  remain  very  hazy  in  the  minds 
of  all  who  are  influential  in  the  conduct  of  Balkan 
affairs.  At  that  time  there  was  a  complication  of  cir- 
cumstances which  perhaps  justified  the  exaggerated 
and  blustering  patriotism  of  all  four  governments. 
Ferdinand  felt  that  for  the  consolidation  of  his  power 
any  adventurous  policy  would  be  very  dangerous.  At 
any  rate,  the  facts  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Porte 
and  were  by  it  made  sufficiently  public  to  prevent  any 
further  agitation  of  the  plan. 

For  twenty  years  the  scheme  of  a  Balkan  federation 
remained  in  abeyance.  The  shrewdest  observers  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  that  such  an  alliance  was  impos- 
sible. The  guerilla  bands  of  Greece,  Servia,  and  Bul- 
garia ravaged  Macedonia  throughout  all  its  borders. 
Mutual  envy  and  spite  were  kept  at  fever  heat  by  the 
perpetual  agitations  for  securing  money  and  men  for 
this  nefarious  warfare  in  all  three  of  the  states.  There 
was  no  sense,  no  reason  in  the  procedure;  merely  a 
wild,  vague  conception  that  when  the  inevitable  climax 
should  come,  the  partition  would  be  made  on  the  prin- 
ciple that  the  more  national  bandits  the  greater  the 
national  share  of  the  booty. 

Throughout  this  period  of  twenty  years,  diplomacy 
was  degraded  almost  to  the  level  of  conspiracy.  Men- 
tion has  been  made  of  the  "Great  Ideas"  entertained 
by  the  respective  nations  of  Eastern  Europe.  Among 
these,  as  has  been  said,  that  of  Russia  is  her  succession 
to  the  influence  and  power  of  Byzantium  as  the  all- 
inclusive  Greek  empire.  Austria-Hungary,  on  the  other 
hand,  has  had  a  history  so  extraordinary  that  her  chief 
aim  is  to  prevent  what  may  be  called  Greek  and  Slavic 


FORMATION  OF  BALKAN  ALLIANCE    187 

aggression  upon  the  eastern  frontier  of  the  Hapsburg 
lands.  Her  general  policy,  therefore,  has  been  to 
create  dissensions  among  the  various  Slavic  stocks,  to 
embitter  their  relations  one  with  the  other,  and  to 
prevent  whatever  strength  there  might  be  in  union. 
Any  combination,  however  temporary  or  preposterous, 
which  is  hostile  to  Russian  pretenses,  is  sure  to  find 
powerful  support  with  the  authorities  at  Vienna  and 
Buda-Pesth.  Accordingly,  this  period  of  outward 
peace  was  really  one  of  fierce  diplomatic  warfare. 
While  the  inner  history  of  the  time  has  been  carefully 
concealed,  yet  there  seems  no  doubt  that,  when  in  1897 
Greece  entered  upon  a  period  of  foolish  warfare  with 
Turkey,  Russia  and  Austria-Hungary  combined  to 
prevent  Servia  and  Bulgaria  from  joining  in  the 
hostilities.  The  most  recent  events  seem  to  prove  that 
Rumania  had  some  secret  understanding,  probably 
with  Servia,  whereby  she  was,  if  necessary,  to  attack 
Bulgaria  and  secure  in  compensation  a  considerable 
portion  of  Eastern  Rumelia.  Whatever  the  reasons, 
Bulgaria  rejected  overtures  from  Greece  for  a  portion 
of  Macedonia  with  a  harbor  on  the  .ZEgean.  Russia 
and  Austria-Hungary  were  harmonious  for  the  mo- 
ment in  preventing  Bulgaria  from  joining  the  federa- 
tion, and  in  keeping  active  the  Bulgarian  policy  of 
friendship  with  Turkey.  Utterly  futile  was  the  effort, 
the  origin  of  which  is  not  clear,  to  secure  in  1901  some 
arrangement  between  Greece  and  Rumania.  King 
Charles  and  the  late  King  George  were  for  some 
time  visitors  together  at  an  Austrian  watering  place  on 
the  Adriatic.  A  body  of  Rumanian  students  organized 
a  tour  to  Athens,  where  they  were  warmly  welcomed. 
It  is  inconceivable  that  there  should  have  been  any  seri- 
ous statesmanship  concerned  in  such  a  movement. 


i88 


THE  BALKANS 


Balkan 
Jealousy  and 
Strife 


Turkey 
Prepares  the 
Way 


The  effort  for  reform  in  Macedonian  conditions 
under  a  combined  Austro-Russian  control  was  equally 
futile.  The  emissaries  of  Abdul  Hamid  ranged  the 
province  and  intensified  the  conflict  of  races  and  creeds. 
The  Greek  komitadjis,  or  bandits,  became  more  and 
more  numerous.  Their  special  aim  was  to  complete 
the  process,  begun  in  1903,  of  "converting"  the  Vlach 
settlements,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1905  the  diplomatic 
relations  between  Greece  and  Rumania  came  to  an 
end.  Bulgaria  began  to  persecute  the  Greeks  within 
her  borders,  and,  in  short,  Macedonia  was  turned  into 
a  hell  on  earth.  In  1905  there  was  talk  of  a  customs 
union  between  Servia  and  Bulgaria,  but  it  remained 
empty  talk.  As  late  as  191 1,  therefore,  intelligent 
visitors  to  that  distracted  portion  of  Eastern  Europe 
could  see  no  light  in  the  darkness.  The  rivalries  of 
Russia  and  Austria-Hungary,  the  contemptuous 
tyranny  of  Turkey,  the  half -barbarous  tribal  conflicts, 
the  barbaric  rage  shown  by  the  Balkan  powers  to 
each  other — these  created  a  situation  which  was  the 
despair  alike  of  wild  and  of  civilized  Europe. 

Curiously  enough,  it  was  out  of  darkest  Turkey 
that  the  partial  solution  of  the  problem  came.  The 
Young  Turk  Revolution  was  based  upon  a  chimera, 
but  a  most  glittering  and  attractive  one.  Promising 
liberty,  justice,  and  equality  for  all,  it  would,  if  suc- 
cessful, regenerate  Turkey  in  Europe,  make  possible 
the  long-since  abandoned  conception  of  a  peaceful 
federation  between  the  Balkan  States,  with  Turkey  as 
one  of  its  important  members,  and  produce,  at  all 
events,  a  period  for  recuperation  and  reflection.  In 
all  the  extraordinary  story  of  Turkish  rule  over 
Christian  peoples  there  is  no  series  of  events  so  en- 
lightening, from  an  historical  point  of  view,  as  those 


FORMATION  OF  BALKAN  ALLIANCE    189 

which  constituted  the  so-called  Young  Turk  Revolu- 
tion. It  was  the  effort  of  the  vanishing  race  and 
religion  to  assume  the  garb  of  Western  constitutional 
government  and  thereby  retain,  for  a  time  at  least,  its 
ascendancy  over  the  Christian  subject  races,  to  ward 
off  for  a  period  the  menace  of  European  intervention, 
and  to  abolish  the  capitulations  which  had  hitherto 
secured  some  degree  of  tolerance  to  Christian  nation- 
alities within  the  Ottoman  empire. 

The  Young  Turk  movement,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered, was  essentially  military  in  its  character.  Based 
solely  and  entirely  on  military  power,  it  was  an 
alliance  of  so-called  statesmen  with  an  ignorant 
soldiery,  in  reality  of  scheming  politicians  with  a 
uniformed,  fanatical  Moslem  peasantry.  Neverthe- 
less, in  the  glamor  of  its  earliest  stages,  the  more 
enlightened  sentiment  of  the  Balkan  powers  began  to 
assert  itself.  In  1908  Bulgaria  had  proclaimed  her 
absolute  independence  and  thereby  put  a  considerable 
strain  upon  her  relations  with  jealous  neighbors;  but 
when  Austria-Hungary  formally  proclaimed  to  the 
world  her  annexation  of  Bosnia  and  the  Herzegovina, 
the  two  purely  Slavic  states  of  the  peninsula,  Servia 
and  Montenegro,  began  to  tremble  for  their  very  exist- 
ence, and  relations  which  had  been  rendered  hostile 
almost  to  the  point  of  rupture,  partly  by  the  dynastic 
scandals  at  Belgrade  and  partly  by  the  machinations 
of  radicals  in  Cettigne,  were  slowly  renewed  in  the  face 
of  the  common  foe.  Both  these  states  mobilized  their 
armies  and  agreed  on  the  terms  of  a  military  conven- 
tion. The  apparent  ease  with  which  two  governments, 
so  long  posing  as  deadly  foes,  laid  aside  their  ani- 
mosity and  combined  for  self-preservation  may  fairly 
be  regarded  as  a  sign  of  the  times. 


190  THE  BALKANS 

The  next  si  range  and  unexpected  political  phenom- 
enon occurred  in  1910,  when  the  Albanians,  keenly 
alive  to  the  success  of  other  populations  round  about, 
began  to  assert  their  nationality,  and  thereby 
threatened  the  further  disintegration  of  Turkey. 
Young  Turkey  regarded  the  movement  with  great 
uneasiness.  Hitherto  the  devout  Albanian  Moslems 
had  been  an  impregnable  barrier  against  Slav  aggres- 
sion from  the  north.  The  movement  for  nationality 
in  Albania  was  a  menace  to  the  very  existence  of  Tur- 
key in  Europe,  and  the  revolt  was  accordingly  sup- 
pressed without  pity  or  mercy  wherever  Turkish 
troops  could  march.  But  into  the  mountain  fastnesses 
occupied  by  the  two  wildest  clans,  those  known  as  the 
Mirdites  and  Mallissores,  troops  could  not  penetrate 
in  regular  military  formation.  Those  wild  tribes, 
moreover,  were  Christians  and  members  of  the  Roman 
Church.  Along  the  frontier  line  between  them  and 
Montenegro  they  made  a  brave  stand  for  what  they 
called  their  liberties,  but  in  a  comparatively  short  time 
their  scanty  resources  were  exhausted,  and  they  threw 
themselves  upon  the  mercy  of  little  Montenegro,  a 
land  of  Slavs  who  professed  Christianity  of  the  Greek 
form.  What  was  perhaps  still  more  amazing,  these 
fanatical  Greek  Christians  received  the  equally  fanati- 
cal Roman  Christians  with  kindness,  afforded  them 
protection,  and,  at  great  cost,  supplied  them  with  the 
necessities  of  life. 

The  Young  Turks  were  naturally  dismayed,  but  in 
Albania  proper  they  had  nevertheless  outwardly 
restored  peace.  It  was  a  peace  like  that  described  by 
Tacitus — the  peace  of  a  desert.  The  population  was 
disarmed,  and  the  new  Sultan  made  a  royal  progress, 
stimulating  the  religious  zeal  of  the  people,  as  he  and 


FORMATION  OF  BALKAN  ALLIANCE    191 

his  followers  vainly  supposed,  by  the  pompous  cere- 
monies known  as  the  selamlik.  Entirely  content  with 
their  success  in  pacifying  Albania,  the  Young  Turks 
resolved  upon  a  similar  treatment  of  Macedonia.  The 
public  has  been  very  well  informed  as  to  what  hap- 
pened in  Albania,  but  there  has  been  a  conspiracy  of 
silence  on  the  part  of  the  great  powers  as  regards  the 
events  of  that  terrible  period  in  Macedonia.  As  yet,  not 
one  of  the  consular  reports  has  been  published  by  any 
government  of  Western  Europe,  and,  what  is  still  more 
extraordinary,  the  entire  European  press  has  seemed  to 
combine  to  prevent  the  publication  of  any  letters  from 
its  correspondents.  Whatever  the  facts,  the  result  was 
that  the  Christian  races  of  Macedonia  began  to  act  in 
harmony.  They  forced  their  prelates  of  high  and  low 
degree,  those  professing  allegiance  to  the  Greek 
patriarch,  as  well  as  to  the  Exarch  of  Bulgaria,  into  a 
kind  of  political  leadership.  Another  miracle  had  been 
wrought,  and  even  amid  the  Greek  peasants  of  southern 
Macedonia,  there  was  formed  the  conviction  that  the 
cause  of  Bulgarians  and  Servians  within  the  posses- 
sions of  Turkey  in  Europe  was  really  their  own.  King 
Nicholas  of  Montenegro  had  invited  King  Ferdinand 
of  Bulgaria,  and  the  crown  princes  of  Senna  and 
Greece  as  well,  to  celebrate  his  jubilee  with  him  at 
Cettigne,  and  they  came — which  was  another  proof 
that  public  opinion  throughout  the  Balkan  States  was 
at  least  embryonic  and  liable  to  develop.  Very  shortly 
afterward  it  leaked  out  that  should  Turkey  and  Bul- 
garia renew  hostilities,  the  army  of  Rumania  would 
cooperate  with  that  of  Turkey.  What  would  happen 
in  other  parts  of  the  Balkans  should  Bulgaria  be  de- 
feated by  a  combination  of  Young  Turkey  and 
Rumania?    As  the  best  authority  (Bouchier)  has  de- 


192 


THE  BALKANS 


A  Common 
Suffering 
Unites  the 
Balkans 


clared,  this  was  the  moment  when  the  instinct  of  self- 
preservation  was  awakened. 

The  revolution  at  Constantinople,  therefore,  was 
indirectly  the  cause  of  the  truce  between  the  Christian 
nationalities,  especially  those  of  Bulgaria  and  Greece, 
which  seemed  to  give  promise  of  a  gradual  reconcilia- 
tion. Since  the  opening  of  this  century  the  condition 
of  Macedonia  could  only  be  likened  to  that  of  a  primi- 
tive giant,  lacerated  and  bound,  at  times  seemingly 
in  its  death  throes,  yet  recuperating  its  strength  in 
every  short  interval  of  hostile  lassitude.  In  1903  the 
state  of  affairs  appeared  so  bad  that  it  could  not  be 
worse.  In  1910,  after  the  revolution  of  1908  had 
ended  the  administration  of  Hamidian  Turkey, 
matters  were  at  least  as  bad,  if  not  worse,  but  this 
time  it  was  due  to  the  grim  determination  of  the 
Young  Turk  administrators  to  obliterate  all  feeling  of 
nationality  in  its  population  and  enforce  the  doctrine 
of  Turkish  citizenship  without  regard  to  race  or 
religion,  and  to  the  ruthlessness  with  which  all  resist- 
ance was  overwhelmed.  Diverse  as  are  the  race 
elements  in  Macedonia,  yet  famine  and  rapine  have 
been,  to  a  certain  extent,  elements  in  the  amalgama- 
tion. To  preserve  their  children  alive,  and  their 
families  from  violation,  even  the  village  leaders  were 
disposed  in  their  extreme  discouragement  to  submis- 
sion. It  is  said  that  Abdul  Hamid.  hearing  in  his 
enforced  retirement  of  the  conditions,  chuckled  vindic- 
tively and  prophesied  the  ultimate  destruction  of 
Young  Turkey,  when  Greeks  and  Bulgarians  should 
be  even  partially  reconciled.  It  was  the  climax  of 
their  common  sufferings  which  brought  about  just  that 
degree  of  reconciliation  which  was  necessary  to  ruin 
Young  Turkey. 


FORMATION  OF  BALKAN  ALLIANCE  193 

In  consequence  of  their  arrangement  with  Rumania, 
the  Young  Turks  began  in  the  early  winter  of  1910- 
191 1  to  assemble  along  the  Greek  and  Bulgarian  fron- 
tiers masses  of  soldiers  brought  from  Asia  Minor.  This 
appears  to  have  been  in  part  merely  a  threat  to  prevent 
Bulgaria  from  urging  further  the  junction  of  the 
Bulgarian  and  Macedonian  railway  systems.  Bulgaria 
and  Greece  had  alike  prolonged  their  railways  to  their 
respective  frontiers,  but  Turkey,  controlling  the  con- 
nection with  Central  Europe,  had  stubbornly  refused 
any  connection  of  these  railway  lines  with  its  own. 
To  this  hour  Athens  has  no  railway  connection  with 
Europe.  The  junction  will,  of  course,  be  made  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment ;  work  has  already  begun. 
Simultaneously,  the  question  of  Crete,  whose  in- 
habitants were  determined  upon  annexation  with  the 
kingdom  of  the  Hellenes,  had  become  acute.  Tur- 
key, trusting  in  the  European  concert  to  prevent  the 
further  disintegration  of  her  territory,  inaugurated 
an  almost  complete  boycott  of  Greek  commerce  in 
Salonica,  and  the  Greeks,  within  or  without  the 
kingdom,  felt  the  sting,  alike  of  their  humiliation  and 
their  money  losses,  to  such  a  degree  that  the  powerful 
organization  known  as  the  Military  League  began  to 
revolt  against  the  pacific  policy  of  the  Greek  govern- 
ment. 

The  unquestioned  leadership  of  Hellenic  agitation 
in  Crete  was  in  the  hands  of  Venezelos.  This  remark- 
able man  was  persuaded  by  the  discontented  at  Athens 
to  come  thither  for  consultation.  Within  a  few  months 
he  had  so  impressed  both  King  George  and  the  politi- 
cal leaders  in  Greece  with  his  good  judgment  and  his 
administrative  power  that  a  general  agreement  was 
reached  whereby  Turkey  was,  at  least  temporarily,  to 


i94  THE  BALKANS 

be  conciliated,  in  order  that  the  Greek  army  might  be 
reorganized  and  the  navy  refitted  antecedent  to  any 
offensive  movement.  Venezelos  undertook  to  form  a 
new  government,  and  became  the  foremost  Greek  of 
his  time.  Almost  simultaneously  Gueshoff,  a  com- 
manding figure  in  Bulgarian  affairs,  had  advocated,  in 
a  powerful  and  widely  read  speech,  a  similar  policy 
for  Bulgaria.  King  Ferdinand  and  his  people  felt  the 
force  of  the  reasoning,  and  he  was  called  to  form  a 
government  which  would  carry  out  his  plan. 

Rumanian  policy  has,  of  course,  been  chiefly 
determined  by  the  fact  that  its  border  is  Russia.  For 
the  same  reason  there  has  always  been  more  or  less 
mystery  about  her  attitude  in  the  politics  of  Eastern 
Europe.  During  the  negotiations  with  Turkey,  Bra- 
tiano  had  been  prime  minister  at  Bucharest,  the  expo- 
nent of  vigorous  military  measures  to  secure  for  his 
country  compensation  offsetting  the  enlargement  of 
Bulgaria's  borders.  Naturally,  his  vigorous  foreign 
policy  had  reacted,  and  not  in  a  conciliatory  way, 
upon  the  internal  politics  of  the  kingdom,  and  in 
January,  191 1,  being  unable  to  control  his  government 
any  longer,  he  resigned.  For  the  moment  Rumania 
was  eliminated  from  the  question  to  be  considered  by 
Bulgaria,  Greece,  and  Servia.  Venezelos  and  Gues- 
hoff were  just  proceeding  to  make  overtures  at  Con- 
stantinople when  suddenly  their  plans  were  completely 
thwarted  by  a  violent  agitation  in  the  Turkish  press, 
which  regarded  the  appointment  of  a  Cretan  rebel  as 
Greek  premier  in  the  light  of  an  insult  to  Turkey.  In 
consequence,  the  entire  Greek  boycott  became  more 
harassing.  The  murders  of  Christian  leaders  in 
Macedonia  increased  in  number,  and  all  pretense  of 
treating  Macedonia  with  moderation  was  abandoned. 


FORMATION  OF  BALKAN  ALLIANCE    195 

Already,  in  19 10,  the  Austro-Hungarian  Minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs  had  warned  the  Young  Turks  of  the 
imminent  danger,  and  had  made  perfectly  clear  to  the 
Grand  Vizier  that  their  policies  would  inevitably  pro- 
duce a  Balkan  alliance :  it  was,  indeed,  at  the  very  mo- 
ment when  the  Turkish  newspapers  were  breathing  fire 
and  slaughter  that  he  expostulated  with  the  Young 
Turk  government  in  terms  which  could  not  be  disre- 
garded. Deferentially  and  hypocritically,  the  govern- 
ment pretended  to  woo  the  Greek  patriarch  and  publicly 
announced  an  inchoate  understanding;  but  the  deeds  of 
their  agents  in  the  harbor  cities  and  in  Macedonia 
continued  to  be  quite  as  hostile  as  before.  Professions 
therefore  produced  no  effect  upon  Greek  sentiment. 
At  the  two  extremities  of  the  Ottoman  empire,  in 
Yemen  and  the  Albanian  mountains,  insurrection 
grew  more  determined,  while  the  temper  in  Macedonia 
became  alike  more  rebellious  and  more  hopeful. 

Venezelos  then  formally  proposed  to  the  Bulgarian  Greece  and 
government  that  the  two  powers  should  cooperate  in  Bulgana  in 
the  pressure  exerted  on  the  Porte,  in  the  efforts  of  the 
ecclesiastical  authorities  at  Constantinople,  which  were 
working  in  harmony,  and  in  making  such  representa- 
tions to  Western  Europe  as  would  secure  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Powers.  This  document  was  presented  at 
Sophia  in  April,  191 1.  Brief  and  to  the  point,  it 
proposed  common  action  for  the  defense  of  the  Chris- 
tians in  Turkey  and  eventually  a  defensive  alliance, 
should  Turkey  attack  either  of  the  two  contracting 
parties.  This  step  was  taken  with  the  full  knowledge 
and  approval  of  King  George,  but  in  such  secrecy, 
that  no  outsider,  not  even  a  Greek,  was  aware  of  the 
fact.  This  secrecy  was  as  complete  at  Sophia  as  at 
Athens,   and   it  was  not  until  after  weeks,   when   a 


196 


THE  BALKANS 


Suggestions 
of  Full 
Alliance 


diplomatic  basis  for  negotiation  had  to  be  established, 
that  even  members  of  the  Greek  and  Bulgarian  govern- 
ments were  informed.  Bulgaria  was  very  slow  to  act. 
King  Ferdinand  is  a  farseeing  and  extremely  cautious 
ruler.  Whatever  Macedonian  peasants  claiming  to  be 
Bulgarians  might  feel  with  regard  to  their  fellow  peas- 
ants claiming  to  be  Greeks,  the  authorities  at  Sophia 
were  slow  to  accept  the  sincerity  of  official  Greek 
professions.  Moreover,  the  Bulgarian  government 
had  unlimited  confidence  in  its  own  army  and  dis- 
trusted the  efficiency  of  the  Greek  armaments.  To 
be  sure,  Venezelos  had  already  secured  French  and 
British  instructors  for  the  Greek  forces  by  land  and 
sea,  but  Bulgaria,  trained  and  armed  under  German 
guidance,  was  disposed  to  be  contemptuous  and 
adopted  a  passive  attitude.  The  only  indication  of  her 
tendency  was  given  when,  in  August,  the  Bulgarian 
Parliament,  sitting  at  Tirnovo,  amended  the  Constitu- 
tion in  a  way  to  invest  the  Crown  with  enlarged 
powers  of  treaty-making.  There  was  also  more  fre- 
quent intercourse  between  subjects  of  the  two  nations. 
Bulgarian  students  visited  Athens  and  were  kindly  en- 
treated ;  the  Bulgarian  Exarch,  the  Armenian  and 
Chaldean  patriarchs  united  for  the  first  time  in  modern 
history  to  make  a  joint  representation  at  Constanti- 
nople concerning  the  rights  of  Christian  communities 
in  Turkey. 

Into  this  entangled  skein  of  affairs  there  entered 
a  further  element  of  confusion  when  war  broke  out 
between  Italy  and  Turkey.  King  Nicholas  promptly 
proposed  immediate  mobilization  to  all  his  fellow 
sovereigns  in  the  Balkans.  Turkey  was  forced  to 
consolidate  her  armies  on  the  Greek  and  Bulgarian 
frontiers,  and  it  was  not  until  Italy  promised  to  re- 


FORMATION  OF  BALKAN  ALLIANCE    197 

spect  the  situation  in  the  peninsula,  that  peace  was 
momentarily  assured.  The  effect,  however,  upon  the 
Balkan  States  was  noteworthy.  While  the  Greco-Bul- 
garian proposition  was  apparently  held  in  suspense, 
the  government  at  Sophia  made  advances  to  that  at 
Belgrade.  This  was  in  November,  191 1,  and  early 
in  1912,  on  February  2,  the  crown  princes  of  all  the 
Balkan  States  assembled  in  Sophia  to  celebrate  the 
coming  of  age  of  Prince  Boris,  the  Bulgarian  heir 
apparent.  The  Bulgarian  prime  minister  had  intended 
that  this  demonstration  should  be  understood,  as  it 
was,  to  be  an  indication  of  an  inchoate  alliance. 

On  May  29  the  Greco-Bulgarian  treaty  was  signed  Greco- 
at   Sophia  by   Gueshoff  and   the   Greek   ambassador.  Bulgarian 
both  declaring  that  the  two  kingdoms  firmly  desired     rea  y 
peace.     The  document  states  that  this  object  can  best 
be  reached  by  a  defensive  alliance,  by  the  creation  of 
political  equality  among  the  different  nationalities  in 
Turkey,  and  by  the  careful  observation  of  treaty  rights. 
To  this  end  the  two  nations  would  cooperate  to  promote 
correct  relations  with  the  Porte  and  to  consolidate  the 
good  will  already  existing  between  Greeks  and  Bulga- 
rians in  Turkey. 

Furthermore,  the  two  powers  agreed  that  if  either 
was  attacked  by  Turkey,  they  would  aid  each  other 
with  their  entire  forces,  and  conclude  peace  only  by 
reciprocal  agreement.  Both  states  were  to  use  their 
influence  to  the  uttermost  with  their  kindred  popula- 
tions in  Macedonia  for  securing  a  peaceful  solution 
of  their  previous  animosities,  and  offer  active  recipro- 
cal assistance  in  order  that  they  might  conjointly 
impress  on  Turkey  and  the  great  powers  alike  the 
importance  of  such  representations  as  were  made  to 
assure  the  performance  of  treaty  obligations. 


198  THE  BALKANS 

The  treaty  was  to  run  for  three  years,  and  for  a 
fourth  unless  denounced  six  months  in  advance,  and 
must  be  kept  absolutely  secret  between  the  two  con- 
tracting parties.  Bulgaria  would  not  intervene  in  the 
settlement  of  the  Cretan  question,  and  would  remain 
neutral  should  war  break  out  between  Greece  and 
Turkey  regarding  the  admission  of  Cretan  delegates  to 
the  Greek  parliament.  To  all  outward  appearance,  this 
compact  appeared  pacific  in  its  intentions,  being  not 
merely  defensive,  but  containing  the  pledge  that  both 
states  would  avoid  aggression  or  provocation  and 
would  bring  pressure  upon  their  kinsfolk  within  the 
Ottoman  empire  to  live  peacefully  with  each  other  and 
with  their  Turkish  fellow  subjects.  Its  aim  appears 
to  have  been  the  exertion  of  efficient  diplomatic  pres- 
sure at  Constantinople  and  in  the  capitals  of  Western 
Europe. 
Bulgaria-  Antecedent   to  the  signature  of  this  document,   a 

Servia  similar  agreement  had  been  reached  between  Bulgaria 

Treaty  an(j    gervja       jt   must   not   be    forgotten   that,    to   all 

Servians  in  Servia  proper,  Austria-Hungary  appeared 
in  the  light  of  a  deadly  foe,  a  malicious  viper,  engaged 
in  strangling  a  small  but  courageous  enemy.  I  have 
here  and  there  in  these  pages  narrated  personal  experi- 
ences in  Belgrade,  where  the  effort  to  exaggerate  the 
importance  of  the  Servian  population  in  Macedonia 
seemed  ludicrous.  There  was  one,  and  only  one,  real- 
ity underlying  the  Servian  braggadocio.  In  the  dis- 
tricts known  as  the  Kosovo  and  Old  Servia  there  were 
and  are  many  of  unquestioned  Servian  stock.  The 
Servians  in  general  did  not  impress  me  as  a  fighting 
people,  and  in  those  two  districts  Albanian  robbers  and 
bandits  were  permitted  by  Young  Turkey  to  work  their 
will  with  the  Servians.    Whether  this  was  active  insti- 


Extreme  southern  boundary  of  Scrria  and  extreme  western  boundary  of  Bulgaria. 
,  Approximate  boundaries  of  autonomous  Macedonia  where  not  defined  by  Shar  Dagh  and  Struma  R. 
.Partition  between  Servia  and  Bulgaria  if  autonomy  not  feasible. 


FORMATION  OF  BALKAN  ALLIANCE    199 

gation  or  passive  indifference  was  not  clear,  but  Turkey 
was  a  less  dreaded  foe  than  the  Austro-Hungarian 
monarchy,  and  hostility  to  Turkey  was  confined  in  the 
main  to  an  exhibition,  mainly  upon  paper  and  in  the 
school  textbooks,  of  how  important  the  Servian  ele- 
ment in  western  Macedonia  should  be  considered. 

Among  the  many  visions  of  Russian  statesmen,  Russian 
there  is  that  of  hegemony  in  a  Pan-Slavic  world.  Such  Influence 
a  world  must,  of  course,  embrace  both  Bulgarians  and 
Servians.  Intermittently,  therefore,  Russian  influence 
had  long  been  exerted  to  create  harmony  between  the 
two  states.  Servia,  of  course,  dreading  Austro-Hun- 
garian hostility,  was  naturally  more  heartily  inclined 
to  such  an  understanding.  For  the  Bulgarian  patriot 
as  for  the  Russian  the  real  enemy  was  Turkey,  and 
whether  or  no  Austria-Hungary  penetrated  to  Salo- 
nica  on  the  ^Egean  was  a  matter  of  small  importance 
compared  with  Turkish  maladministration  to  the  south 
and  east  of  Sophia.  The  Bulgarian  plan  had  been  to 
secure  autonomy  for  Macedonia  in  the  expectancy  of 
eventual  annexation.  To  Greece  particularly,  and  to 
Servia  in  a  high  degree,  such  a  prospect  was  most 
distasteful.  Both  demanded  their  share  in  the  respec- 
tive spheres  of  influence  of  a  tripartite  Macedonia  and 
sought  to  secure  it  in  the  guerilla  warfare  to  which 
frequent  reference  has  been  made. 

It  was  in  1902  that,  in  the  Shipka  Pass,  Russia 
exhibited  the  degree  of  her  influence  among  South 
Slavs  in  a  series  of  apparently  spontaneous  demon- 
strations made  by  them.  In  the  following  year,  1903, 
the  revolt  of  Bulgarians  in  western  Macedonia  took 
the  form  of  a  succession  of  manifestations  favorable 
to  Russian  aspirations.  The  Czar  sought  to  inaugu- 
rate a  substantial  Serbo-Bulgarian  understanding,  but 


200  THE  BALKANS 

the  effort  was  thwarted  by  a  rumor  which  was  pro- 
mulgated far  and  near,  probably  by  Turkish  agents, 
that  what  Russia  wanted  was  such  a  readjustment  as 
she  had  outlined  in  the  treaty  of  San  Stefano,  which 
would  have  given  even  greater  ascendancy  to  Bulgaria. 
King  Peter  and  his  advisers  in  Belgrade  grew  more 
and  more  suspicious.  Large  and  numerous  Servian 
bands  were  sent  into  Macedonia,  where,  for  the  most 
part,  they  cooperated  with  similar  Greek  ones.  The 
Young  Turk  Revolution  of  1908  brought  about  no 
real  change.  The  Bulgarians  were  still  regarded  as 
the  most  dangerous  element  in  Macedonia;  many 
churches,  schools,  and  monasteries,  which  they 
claimed,  were,  in  one  way  or  another,  put  under  Ser- 
vian control,  and  for  three  years  Young  Turkey  and 
Servia  were  friendly  to  each  other. 

The  principal  industry  of  Servia  is  the  raising  of 
swine.  It  was  through  Turkish  territory  that  she 
was  able  to  export  her  wares.  In  1906  the  tension 
with  Austria-Hungary  was  such  that  the  hostile  dem- 
onstrations known  as  the  Pig  War  resulted  in  the 
complete  closing  of  the  Austrian  frontier.  Matters 
reached  a  climax  when  Bulgaria  seemed  to  approve 
the  annexation  of  Bosnia  and  the  Herzegovina  by  the 
Austro-Hungarian  Monarchy.  In  regard  to  this, 
however,  there  was  a  complete  misunderstanding,  be- 
cause King  Ferdinand  had  declined  to  cooperate  in  the 
overthrow  and  extinction  of  Servian  independence.  It 
is  clear,  therefore,  that  something  most  remarkable 
occurred  in  securing  Servian  support  for  the  Balkan 
alliance.  The  common  gossip  is  that  the  revolution  in 
feeling  was  the  work  of  a  Montenegrin  princess,  who 
had  become  the  consort  of  a  Russian  grand  duke,  and 
had   urged   Iswolsky,  the   Russian  minister,  to  make 


FORMATION  OF  BALKAN  ALLIANCE    201 

friendly  and  attractive  suggestions  to  Milovanovich, 
the  Servian  prime  minister,  as  early  as  March,  19 10. 

We  have  referred  to  the  preliminary  conversations  Content 
at  Sophia  in  191 1.  The  definite  proposition  was  the  of  Serbo- 
direct  consequence  of  the  Turco-Italian  war,  and  T"e^"an 
formal  negotiations  were  inaugurated  almost  immedi- 
ately at  Sophia.  These  negotiations  were  likewise 
intended  to  be  secret,  but  two  Bulgarian  statesmen 
and  one  Servian  minister  were  admitted  to  the  discus- 
sion; and,  further,  one  Russian  grand  duke,  present 
at  Sophia  when  Prince  Boris  came  of  age,  somehow 
learned  what  was  going  on.  Accordingly,  as  might 
have  been  expected,  some  one  of  the  initiated  was 
indiscreet,  and  the  Serbo-Bulgarian  treaty  was  known 
to  the  world  earlier  than  was  that  between  Greece 
and  Bulgaria,  which  actually  preceded  it  in  point 
of  time.  This  treaty  was  almost  identical  with  the 
other,  except  that  it  contained  a  series  of  territorial 
delimitations,  provided  there  should  be  a  conflict  with 
Turkey  and  the  event  be  a  success. 

This  addition  was  due  to  the  greater  military 
strength  of  Bulgaria  and  the  desire  of  Servia  to  have  a 
due  share  in  the  booty.  It  was  the  weak  spot  in  the 
compact,  because  it  endeavored  to  combine  the  Servian 
plan  of  partition  with  the  Bulgarian  scheme  for  Mace- 
donian autonomy.  Old  Servia  and  the  Sanjak  of 
Novi-Bazar,  lying  between  the  Rhodope  and  Shar 
mountain  ranges,  were  to  be  Servian ;  the  territory 
south  and  east  of  the  Rhodope  and  the  Struma  River 
was  to  be  Bulgarian ;  what  lay  between  was  to  be  an 
autonomous  Macedonia.  Moreover,  this  treaty  exhib- 
its some  elements  of  distrust  in  the  fact  that,  in  order 
to  render  it  more  solemn,  it  was  signed  personally  by 
both  Servian  and  Bulgarian  kings. 


202 


THE  BALKANS 


The 

Military 
Conventions 


Montenegro 
Joins 


Within  a  comparatively  short  time  the  military 
arrangements  between  the  three  Balkan  powers  were 
completed,  and  had  taken  definite  shape  before  the 
general  mobilization  of  September,  30.  Bulgaria  was 
to  mobilize  200,000  men;  Servia  150,000  as  a  mini- 
mum. In  fact,  when  their  armies  took  the  field  they 
were  twice  these  numbers.  Anticipating  that  Macedo- 
nia would  be  the  battlefield,  Bulgaria  was  to  dispatch 
100,000  men  into  Thrace,  and  as  many  more  to  Mace- 
donia. Were  Austria-Hungary  to  intervene,  Bulgaria 
would  send  200,000  men  to  Servia's  aid,  while  Servia 
promised  100,000  for  use  against  Turkey.  Their 
anticipation  was,  of  course,  based  upon  reckoning 
which  proved  to  be  false;  and  subsequently,  of  neces- 
sity, the  Servian  and  Bulgarian  military  staffs  were 
compelled  to  draw  up  a  series  of  conventions  which 
abrogated  the  military  arrangements  of  the  treaty.  As 
between  Greece  and  Bulgaria,  the  military  convention 
was  signed  on  September  25,  1912,  four  months  after 
that  between  Servia  and  Bulgaria,  whereby  Bulgaria 
undertook  to  put  300,000  men  in  the  field  and  Greece 
120,000.  Should  Turkey  attack  either,  these  forces 
were  to  be  joined,  although  each  power  retained  the 
right  of  forming  and  adopting  its  own  plan  of  cam- 
paign. The  Greek  fleet  was  to  control  the  iEgean, 
and  prevent  Turkey  in  Europe  from  drawing  upon 
the  resources  of  Turkey  in  Asia. 

The  Balkan  alliance  was  completed  by  the  adhesion 
of  Montenegro.  Indeed,  as  early  as  1888  King 
Nicholas  had  memorialized  Russia  on  the  subject  of 
such  an  alliance.  These  representations  were  renewed 
by  him  in  July,  191 1,  before  the  outbreak  of  war  be- 
tween Turkey  and  Italy,  and,  immediately  thereafter, 
he  made  general  proposals  to  his  three  stronger  neigh- 


FORMATION  OF  BALKAN  ALLIANCE    203 

bors — Servia,  Bulgaria,  and  Greece.  From  time  to 
time  slight  advances  were  made,  and  finally  his  arrange- 
ments, purely  defensive  in  nature  at  the  outset,  with 
each  of  the  three  powers,  were  completed  during  the 
summer  of  19 12.  The  only  important  reserve  was 
in  the  treaty  of  alliance  with  Servia,  wherein  it  was 
stipulated  that  there  should  be  no  combination  of  mili- 
tary forces  and  no  joint  occupation  of  any  Turkish 
town  or  village.  During  the  war  with  Turkey  only 
one  event  gave  umbrage  to  Montenegro — the  march  of 
the  Servian  troops  on  Allessio  and  Durazzo. 

The  house  of  Nyegosch  has  seemingly  sought  to  em- 
ulate the  policy  of  the  house  of  Savoy,  with  which  it 
has  now  at  least  a  marriage  alliance,  the  queen  of  Italy 
being  a  Montenegrin  princess.  It  was  long  ago  said 
that  Italy  was  taken  leaf  by  leaf  as  a  man  eats  an  arti- 
choke. King  Nicholas,  therefore,  regarded,  as  did 
his  ministers,  this  latest  conflict  with  Turkey  as  a 
means  for  the  enlargement  of  Montenegrin  territory. 
Since  the  days  of  Peter  the  Great,  Montenegro  had 
owed  the  considerable  measure  of  independence  it  has 
enjoyed  almost  entirely  to  Russian  patronage.  By 
the  Treaty  of  Berlin  the  kingdom  had  secured  an 
outlet  to  the  sea.  What  the  Montenegrin  Slavs  be- 
lieved to  be  their  natural  boundaries  were  mutilated 
by  the  Austrian  occupation  of  Dalmatia.  In  that  direc- 
tion expansion  was  hopeless;  it  now  seemed  possible 
at  the  expense  of  Turkey.  To  quote  again  the  highest 
Balkan  authority,  Bouchier,  an  English  resident  of 
Sophia :  "The  country  had  been  at  peace  for  thirty- 
four  years,  a  period  unprecedented  in  its  history.  The 
mountaineers  were  spoiling  for  a  fight;  their  yata- 
gans  were  rusting  in  their  scabbards;  and  the  inter- 
vention  of   Europe,    with  a   scheme   of   Macedonian 


204  THE  BALKANS 

reform,  threatened  to  deprive  them  of  their  heart's 
desire.  The  liberation  of  the  Macedonian  rayahs  was 
only  a  secondary  consideration  from  the  Montenegrin 
point  of  view ;  the  main  object  was  to  obtain  a  'place 
in  the  sun,'  and,  in  order  to  achieve  it,  King  Nicholas 
determined  to  force  the  hand  of  his  allies."  Accord- 
ingly, he  took  the  field  in  advance  of  them  all  and 
opened  hostilities,  without  a  formal  declaration  of  war, 
by  an  advance  on  the  Albanian  frontier. 

There  is,  therefore,  in  the  formation  of  the  Balkan 
alliance  much  the  same  sort  of  historical  evolution  as 
underlies  all  important  events,  however  startling  they 
appear  when  announced  to  an  unsuspecting  world. 
What  had  been  considered  outside  the  range  of 
human  possibility  had  really  come  to  pass.  At  the 
same  time,  even  this  short  account  of  the  evolution 
suffices  to  exhibit  how  powerful  were  the  elements  of 
dissension,  both  in  national  temper  and  interest.  The 
real  wonder  is  that  the  alliance  lasted  as  long  as  it  did, 
and  was,  during  its  short  life,  fairly  efficient,  and 
worked  with  as  little  friction  as  the  outside  world,  at 
least,  was  able  to  observe.1 


'The  treaties  and  military  convention  as  published  by  the  Paris  "  Matin  "  are 
given  in  the  appendix. 


VIII 

NATIONAL  CHARACTERISTICS  IN  THE 
LATEST  WAR 


205 


VIII 


NATIONAL  CHARACTERISTICS  IN  THE  LATEST  WAR 


Influence 


Some  time  since,  a  careful  statistician  published  a  Racial 
series  of  tables  to  exhibit  the  relative  growths  attained  Strength  and 
within  the  limits  of  the  nineteenth  century  by  Anglo- 
Saxons,  Latins,  Slavs,  and  Teutons.  Influence,  as  the 
word  is  used,  means  square  miles  of  the  earth's  sur- 
face and  numbers  of  dwellers  therein,  whatever  their 
race  or  color,  now  under  the  sway  of  the  four  white 
race  stocks.  The  increase  of  Anglo-Saxon  power  is 
nearly  five  times;  of  Latin,  nearly  four;  of  Slav, 
exactly  four;  and  of  Teuton,  two  and  a  half.  The 
elements  in  this  calculation  are,  of  course,  somewhat 
uncertain,  but  it  does  seem  to  be  significant  that,  con- 
trary to  general  impression,  Latin  and  Slav  are  not  so 
far  apart  in  their  advance,  while  the  Teuton  is  far 
behind,  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  an  easy  first.  Con- 
sidering the  immense  military  superiority  of  the  Teu- 
ton, and  how  amazingly  prolific  he  is  in  comparison 
with  his  Western  neighbors,  the  result  in  his  case  is 
surprising. 

But  one  thing  emerges  distinctly :  that  even  Teuton 
civilization,  high  and  militant  as  it  is,  has  a  terrific 
struggle  for  life  on  its  eastern  frontier  in  the  expan- 
sion of  Slav  power  and  numbers.  The  sovereign 
states  of  the  Balkan  peninsula  so  far  enumerated  are, 
with  the  exception  of  Greece,  virtually  Slavic,  one 
and  all;  so,  too,  is  the  European  portion  of  the  one 
sovereign  power  still  to  be  mentioned,  Turkey  itself — 

207 


208  THE  BALKANS 

or  (excluding  Albania)  what  was  known  to  late  geo- 
graphical parlance  as  Thrace  and  Macedonia.  Austria- 
Hungary  has  twenty-eight  million  Slavs  within  its 
borders — more  than  half  its  population;  Prussia  has 
probably  six  million  and  Russia  about  a  hundred  and 
fifty-five  million  Slavs;  Turkey  in  Europe,  with  its 
ante-bellum  extent  of  sixty-six  thousand  five  hundred 
square  miles,  had  a  population  under  six  million,  and 
of  these  fully  four  million  were  Slavs.  If  anything 
appears  to  be  manifest,  it  is  that  Eastern  Europe,  with 
a  population  overwhelmingly  Slav — about  two  hun- 
dred million — is  to  be  totally  and  entirely  Slav;  that  it 
is  to  be  composed  of  a  federation  of  Slav  states,  larger 
or  smaller.  The  few  Turks  remaining  must  return  to 
their  earliest  home  or  be  annihilated.  This  is  Pan- 
Slavism,  and  the  notion  has  a  possibility  so  attractive 
to  the  peoples  of  that  stock  as  to  make  this  remoter 
ideal  a  real  force  in  European  politics.  But,  closely 
examined,  it  is  a  chimera,  and  this  is  best  exhibited 
in  the  case  of  Macedonia. 
The  Folly  of  The  term  "Macedonia"  is  here  used  in  its  narrower 

Pan-Slavism  sense,  excluding  Albania.  This  leaves  a  territory  of 
Illustrated  about  fifty  thousand  square  miles,  with  a  population  of 
three  million  five  hundred  thousand,  of  whom  possibly 
two  hundred  thousand  are  real  Turks  and  perhaps  as 
many  more  European  Moslems.  What  the  rest  are 
has  already  been  indicated:  they  are  overwhelmingly 
Slavs— South  Slavs.  But  what  kind  of  Slavs?  Bul- 
garian, Servian,  or  Greek?  This  knotty  question  has 
also  already  been  broached  in  another  connection; 
possibly  a  little,  but  only  a  very  little,  more  light  can 
be  thrown  upon  it. 

From  the  times  of  earliest  recorded  history  there 
has  been  in  Macedonia  the  cry,  "Come  over  and  help 


THE  LATEST  WAR  209 

us."  No  other  land  in  Europe  has  suffered  so  con- 
tinuously from  the  desolation  of  battles,  sieges,  ravag- 
ings,  burnings,  forays.  As  has  been  remarked  by  one 
writer,  it  was  a  German  Thirty  Years'  War  prolonged 
to  many,  many  centuries;  the  hand  of  every  man 
against  every  other  man,  whether  in  state,  province, 
village,  or  family.  Pelasgians,  Greeks,  Romans,  By- 
zantines, Crusaders,  Genoese,  Venetians,  Huns,  Avars, 
Bulgarians,  Servians,  Wallachs,  Albanians,  and  Turks 
have  overrun,  devastated,  settled,  fled  from,  and  turned 
back  to  its  borders.  What  would  otherwise  be  a 
garden — such  are  its  splendid  resources  in  soil,  min- 
erals, rivers,  forests,  and  pastures — has  been  kept 
almost  a  desolation.  It  could  support  in  peace  many, 
many  times  its  present  population;  but  peace  seems 
further  off  than  ever.  Before  the  war  bandits  were 
derailing  railway  trains,  Bulgarian  bands  were  stir- 
ring up  strife,  robbers  were  holding  European  cap- 
tives for  ransom,  Albanian  rangers  were  threatening 
the  villagers  and  herdsmen,  feeble  Turkish  authority 
was  reveling,  wherever  it  formed  its  camps,  in  harsh 
repression.  What  else  was  going  on  news  gatherers 
did  not  discover ;  but  beyond  a  peradventure  there  was 
rapine  and  bloodshed  to  an  extent  which  beggars 
description.  Bouchier,  so  often  mentioned  as  the  very 
foremost  authority  among  Englishmen  in  regard  to 
the  Balkans,  a  resident  of  Sophia,  but  well-known 
and  welcome  at  the  other  Balkan  capitals,  openly 
charged  a  newspaper  conspiracy  to  suppress  horrid 
truths  which  were  known.  His  explanation  was  that 
the  Jews  of  Europe  and  America,  having  secured  con- 
trol of  the  most  widely  read  newspapers,  desired  that 
the  atrocities  perpetrated  by  Young  Turkey  should  not 
be  known,  at  least  not  before  the  Turkification  plan 


210  THE  BALKANS 

had  had  a  longer  trial.  Moslems  against  Christians, 
he  asserted  that  the  powerful  Jewish  influence  has  been 
historically  and  must  be  temperamentally  with  the 
former. 

Beyond  a  question  the  Slavs  of  Macedonia  are  Bul- 
garians, Servians,  and  Wallachs,  but  in  most  uncertain 
proportion.  As  far  as  Pan-Slavic  aspiration  goes,  it 
has  so  far  been  blocked  by  the  fact  that  five  Balkan 
monarchies  of  Slavic  character,  besides  Turkey,  were 
each  simply  lusting  for  the  possession  of  the  other 
Slavic  land.  Besides,  these  South  Slavs  are  separated 
by  the  whole  orb  in  religion,  strongest  as  yet  in  those 
parts  of  all  the  social  bonds:  some  are  Roman,  some 
Greek,  and  some  Moslem.  For  the  ruling  Turk  there 
was  no  distinction  between  Bulgar  and  Serb,  Roman 
and  Greek;  all  were,  in  his  own  elegant  language, 
"hogs  in  a  sty."  Accordingly,  his  task  under  the  new 
regime  could  be  formulated  much  more  simply  than 
under  the  old.  The  latter  taxed  and  tolerated;  it 
ruled  pitilessly,  but  made  no  effort  at  political  con- 
version. Snarling  curs  when  cowed  are  less  danger- 
ous than  conspiring  rebels  with  civic  recognition.  The 
new  regime  purposed  to  tax  and  tolerate,  but  also 
to  rule :  and  to  give  an  unreconcilable  peasantry  an 
ostensible  responsibility  by  further  trituration  in  the 
mortar  of  administration  with  the  pestle  of  compul- 
sion. Said  a  well-known  Prussian  monarch  to  one 
of  his  subjects  "Love  me,  hang  you ;  I  command  you 
to  love  me."  Said  Constantinople  to  the  Macedonians, 
"Be  Turks,  hang  you ;  I  command  you  to  be  Turks." 
Macedonian  It  was  an  amazing  idea  for  a  constitutional  Sultan 

Characteris-      to  make  a  progress  in  Macedonia,  exhibiting  to  its 
tlcs  population   in  his  personal  presence  the  reformation, 

or,  rather,  the  revolution,  of  Turkish  politics — and  by 


THE  LATEST  WAR  2 1 1 

what?  By  the  selamlik,  as  earlier  stated,  the  defiant 
ceremony  which  emphasizes  as  often  as  performed  the 
reactionary  nature  of  Ottoman  rule.  It  must  be  con- 
fessed these  strange  constitutionalists  had  some  ex- 
cuse: if  the  same  Macedonian  village  could  within  the 
space  of  ten  years  be  first  Bulgarian  and  then  Servian 
and  then  Greek,  why  not  Turkish?  The  fact  of  such 
easy  conversion  in  the  Macedonian  communities  is  at- 
tested by  the  best  possible  evidence.  Why  not?  Life 
is  sweet,  and  home  and  harvest  and  subsistence,  how- 
ever primitive  and  mean,  are  things  to  be  desired. 
Bribery,  too,  is  efficient  in  such  communities.  A 
French  consul  is  reported  as  saying  that  with  a  few 
million  francs  he  could  make  all  Macedonia  French. 
He  would  found  schools  and  teach  the  children  that 
all  Macedonians  were  descendants  of  the  French 
crusaders,  who  in  the  twelfth  century  had  conquered 
and  occupied  Salonica.  The  nimble  coin,  simple 
bribery,  would  do  the  rest.  What  truths  are  spoken  in 
bitter  jest! 

In  a  very  broad  and  loose  sense  the  Treaty  of  Berlin 
in  1878  was  the  partition,  or  at  least  the  completed 
partition,  of  Turkey  in  Europe  among  the  peoples 
who  dwelt  in  it,  Macedonia  alone  excepted.  Only  one 
of  the  Powers  made  a  direct  gain  in  territory :  Great 
Britain  took  Cyprus  and,  thanks  to  the  stupidity  of  her 
partners,  has  since  taken  Egypt.  Had  there  been 
given  to  Macedonia  a  measure  of  the  independence 
bestowed  on  the  other  Balkan  States,  or  had  her  dis- 
tricts been  divided  among  the  new  conterminous 
powers,  the  Turk  would  have  departed  from  Europe 
altogether,  as  he  has  already  in  great  measure.  By 
nature  a  nomad,  using  his  European  house  much  as 
his  forbears  used  an  Asiatic  tent,  he  has  refused  to  re- 


212  THE  BALKANS 

main  and  obey  where  once  he  commanded ;  and  pure 
Turks,  not  Moslem  Slavs,  have  migrated  over  the 
Bosporus  in  vast  numbers.  But  all  the  jealous 
European  states  represented  at  Berlin  desired  a  weak 
and  buffer  power  at  Constantinople,  and  Macedonia 
paid  the  price.  The  solid  profits  pocketed  by  Great 
Britain  long  embittered  the  sister  powers.  Austria 
has  since  annexed  the  provinces  intrusted  to  her  ad- 
ministration and  is  quit.  She  holds  them  beneficently 
on  the  whole,  and  they  enjoy  a  measure  of  auton- 
omy, while  making  great  advances  in  social  and 
economic  lines.  There  is  far  less  discontent  than  had 
been  expected.  But  Macedonia,  the  beautiful  martyr, 
and  Albania,  undaunted,  untamed,  the  only  bulwark 
against  a  further  swell  of  the  Slavic  wave — what  of 
them? 
The  Plight  of  The  work  of  Turkification  began  in  Macedonian 
Albania  and  cities — Salonica,  Monastir,  and  Ueskub.  In  them  was 
Macedonia  garrisoned  the  flower  of  the  Turkish  army  created  by 
Abdul  Hamid,  and  the  Young  Turks  won  the  troops 
for  their  plans.  Terrorizing  could  go  no  further  than 
it  had  gone;  soon  there  would  be  no  Macedonia  to 
rule  or  tax.  Europe  would  intervene  and  Ottoman 
rule  in  Europe,  already  burning  low,  would  be  extin- 
guished entirely.  The  revolution  was  accomplished 
and  the  will-o'-the-wisp  began  to  dance.  But  the  Al- 
banians were  distrustful  of  marsh  gas.  Fed  on  prom- 
ises for  a  time,  they  found  that  nothing  happened, 
not  a  single  substantial  gain  for  their  cherished  hopes ; 
the  price  of  Albanian  loyalty  was  not  paid,  there  was 
not  even  earnest  money.  Tosks  and  Ghegs,  Moslems 
and  Christians,  they  grew  restless  and  bitter.  Finally, 
rebellion  burst  forth.  The  new  Turkey  knew  no  other 
methods  of  procedure  than  those  of   the  old.     The 


THE  LATEST  WAR  213 

former  conditions  were  bad,  the  latter  worse.  It  was 
only  by  the  united  behests  of  Russia  and  Austria-Hun- 
gary that  the  conflagration  was  held  in  bounds,  kept 
an  internal  Turkish  question;  and  that  through  whole- 
sale concessions  which  only  emboldened  the  wild  Alba- 
nians to  demand  more  and  more.  It  is  the  dread  of 
extinction  which  forces  Young  Turkey  to  desist  from 
utterly  Turkifying  Malissores  and  Mirdites.  Wildest, 
rudest  of  their  blood,  Roman  Catholics  at  that,  these 
Albanians  have  rebelled;  they  fought  and  won;  the 
Albanian  was  to  wear  his  arms,  perform  his  military 
service  at  home,  have  his  own  schools  conducted  in  his 
own  language,  be  ruled  by  Albanian,  not  Turkish 
officials — in  short,  secure  his  substantial  autonomy  as 
the  price  of  refraining  from  further  agitation  or  from 
making  common  cause  with  Montenegro,  which  in  turn 
was  assured  of  Servian  support  in  case  of  trouble. 

As  for  Macedonia,  her  latter  state  was  even  then 
worse  than  the  former:  and  equally  wholesale  conces- 
sion must  be  the  order  there  as  well.  But  Albania  is 
a  political  person — composite  of  clans,  stocks,  and 
chieftains,  but  yet  united — and  there  is  a  party  of  the 
second  part  to  close  a  contract.  In  Macedonia  there 
is  no  such  artificial  personage,  and  it  is  surely  the  in- 
tention of  the  partitioning  states  that  none  should  be 
set  up.  The  way  out  was  not  then  in  sight.  The 
dilemma  appeared  to  be  either  perpetual  outrage;  or  a 
European  congress  to  make  Turkish  rule  nominal,  by 
setting  up  Christian  governments  like  those  in  Crete  and 
Syria  or  Egypt ;  or  finally  the  outbreak  of  war — war  of 
the  Christian  states  against  the  one  surviving  Moslem 
power,  and  then  possibly  war  among  the  Balkan  States 
themselves  over  the  division  of  spoils,  since  spoils  for 
some  one  there  must  be.     The  hatred  and  distrust — 


214  THE  BALKANS 

not  suspicion,  but  utter  conviction  of  bad  faith — felt 
for  the  Turkish  government  and  the  men  in  power 
by  their  Christian  subjects  rendered  regeneration  ab- 
solutely impossible  under  Turkish  rule. 

The  pleasant  land  of  Macedonia  could  four  years 
since  be  seen  only  from  the  railway,  except  by  the 
adventurous.  Daring  Europeans  were  waylaid  and 
held  for  ransom  by  banditti  almost  within  the  suburbs 
of  the  cities;  instances  occurred  as  late  as  191 1  near 
Salonica  and  Ueskub.  The  American  public  has  nearly 
forgotten  the  capture  of  Miss  Stone,  the  missionary, 
though  it  was  less  than  ten  years  ago  that  it  took 
place;  but  the  seizure  of  Professor  Richter  by  Greek 
komitadjis  is  still  recalled.  Lives  of  the  natives  were 
being  ruthlessly  taken  by  the  ruffians ;  those  of  cap- 
tured tourists  were  a  valuable  source  of  funds.  This 
means  of  securing  money  would  have  been  indefinitely 
extended  had  travelers  been  rash  enough  to  penetrate 
further,  even  though  their  lives  should  be  spared.  In 
Albania  it  is  doubtful  whether  for  some  time  to  come 
the  life  of  a  tourist  would  be  safe  for  any  reason  in 
the  hands  of  the  fierce,  untamed  rangers. 

The  railway  line  from  Constantinople  to  Salonica 
is  about  six  hundred  miles  in  length,  that  from  Salo- 
nica to  Ueskub  about  four  hundred.  It  is  not  long  since 
the  principal  occupation  of  the  Turkish  army  was  the 
guarding  of  these  railways  and  the  protecting  of  road- 
way, bridges,  tunnels,  and  trains ;  passengers  saw  from 
their  windows  more  soldiers  than  civilians.  While 
there  was  hope  for  the  fulfillment  of  the  lavish 
promises  made  by  the  Young  Turks,  a  relaxation  of 
vigilance  was  possible;  but  hope  soon  vanished  and  the 
operations  of  the  bands  were  immediately  renewed. 
Their  forays  were  intermittent  but  frequent,  and  out- 


THE  LATEST  WAR  215 

rages  on  the  lines  were  numerous.  There  was  every 
prospect  that  without  military  protection  the  railways 
would  soon  again  be  unsafe. 

The  general  aspect  of  the  country  between  stations 
was  probably  that  of  the  remoter  parts  also:  wilder- 
ness and  thicket,  with  here  and  there  sparse  groups  of 
tired  peasants,  cultivating  enough  land  for  subsistence, 
but  with  the  discouraged  air  of  those  who  sow  where 
they  may  not  reap.  Discouragement  is  a  word  which 
utterly  fails  to  express  the  Macedonian  mind:  the 
people  lived  in  blank  despair.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
they  still  have  energy  enough  even  to  hope;  they  cer- 
tainly have  not  enough  for  any  efficient  action. 

It  is  not  very  long  since  the  writer  had  an  opportu- 
nity to  look  at  refugees  from  the  villages  of  both 
northern  and  southern  Macedonia:  some  in  Sophia, 
orphan  children  for  the  most  part,  whose  parents  had 
been  foully  murdered  either  by  Turkish  soldiery  or 
by  the  abandoned,  infuriated  komitadjis  of  various 
nationalities,  others  in  Athens,  families  composed  of 
husbands,  wives,  and  children.  The  aspect  of  the  poor 
souls  was  heartrending;  lack-luster  eyes,  slack  limbs, 
dragging  movements,  general  indifference;  utter 
worthlessness  would  be  the  first  verdict.  But  it  was 
amazing  how  quickly  they  responded  to  kindness,  re- 
gaining their  powers  as  rest  and  nourishment  revived 
body  and  soul.  But  their  physical  recuperation  is 
simpler  and  easier  than  their  moral  regeneration. 
Generations  must  probably  elapse  before  manhood  is 
revived,  intelligence  reawakened,  and  some  initiative 
aroused. 

The  state  of  Bosnia  and  the  Herzegovina  was  never  Conditions  in 
as  low  as  that  of  Macedonia,  yet  even  in  those  prov-  Bosnia  and  the 
inces  the  evil  qualities  engendered   in  the   Christian      erzeeovma 


2l6 


THE  BALKANS 


Naivete  of 
Balkan 
Claim  of 
"Christians' 


population  by  cruelty  and  tyranny  are  far  from  being 
eradicated.  Almost  universally,  the  well-informed  in 
those  provinces  express  much  hopelessness  as  to  the 
improvement  of  the  present  conditions.  The  native 
Christians  are  charged  with  guile,  effrontery,  deceit, 
and  idleness.  As  a  dweller  in  the  country  said  in 
conversation :  "They  are  as  idle  as  the  dormouse,  as 
bold  as  the  bedbug,  and  as  deceitful  as  three  Galician 
Jews.  These  creatures,"  he  continued,  "could  only  be 
managed  by  the  Turks,  who  understood  them  and 
trusted  them  not  at  all,  enforcing  a  day's  work  for  a 
day's  pay,  compelling  every  outward  sign  of  deference 
and  punishing  delinquencies  without  mercy."  Making 
all  allowance  for  the  exasperation  of  an  employer — in- 
deed, the  language  quoted  was  evoked  by  a  cringing, 
servile  effort  to  collect  a  pittance  for  services  never 
rendered — discounting  all  the  exasperation  produced 
by  race  hatred,  there  is  yet  certainly  a  large  deposit  of 
truth  at  the  bottom.  No  wonder  the  tricky  laborers 
cire  what  they  are  described  as  being;  probably  the 
wretched  Macedonians  may  be  worse.  Yet  it  makes 
little  difference  who  perpetrated  the  foul  wrong  which 
degraded  so  many  of  God's  noblest  creatures;  the 
problem  was  urgent  and  difficult.  Alas,  that  the 
revolution  at  Constantinople,  could  do  little,  indeed 
worse  than  nothing,  to  improve  anything;  that  events 
in  Albania,  even  the  latest,  will  probably  aggravate  the 
Macedonian  situation  to  the  limit ;  and  that  the  policies 
of  the  great  powers  seem  to  block  any  hope  of  progress. 
In  the  primitive  days  of  the  theater  the  stage-setting 
was  so  innocently  naif  that  a  rude  boor  needed  only  to 
declare  that  as  he  stood  there  he  was  a  wall,  and  that 
as  he  held  up  his  hand  and  opened  his  fingers  in  two 
groups    this    was    the    chink    through    which    lovers, 


THE  LATEST  WAR  217 

otherwise  separated,  might  exchange  their  vows;  the 
imagination  of  the  onlookers  supplied  all  the  rest  and 
the  deceit  was  utterly  forgotten.  We  of  the  Western 
world  are  quite  as  naif  as  our  ancestors  of  centuries 
ago  in  our  consideration  and  judgment  of  the  Balkan 
peoples.  They  have  placed  themselves  in  the  center  of 
the  stage  with  a  claim  to  represent  a  high  civilization 
in  revolt  against  a  degraded  one;  they  have  proclaimed 
to  the  world  that  they  were  Christians  practicing 
Christian  virtues,  organizing  under  frightful  discour- 
agements Christian  civilizations.  The  nations  of 
Europe  have  been  disposed  for  their  own  purposes  to 
accept  these  claims  in  measure,  but  it  is  no  overstate- 
ment to  say  that  the  masses  in  our  own  country  and  in 
other  Western  nations  have  accepted  them  literally. 
For  perhaps  a  decennium  tourists  who  considered 
themselves  adventurous  have  visited,  to  their  great 
delight  and  to  the  furtherance  of  their  education, 
many  portions  of  the  Balkan  peninsula.  Being  one  of 
them,  the  author  has  compared  his  own  observations 
with  those  of  others  like  himself,  and  found  it,  even 
after  a  certain  degree  of  experience,  impossible  to 
think  otherwise  than  well  and  kindly  of  the  South 
Slav  peoples. 

No  wonder,  therefore,  that  the  general  impression  Atrocities  of 
about  them  was  what  it  was.  The  recent  conflicts  the  War 
have  caused  terrible  disillusionment.  As  far  as  regu- 
lar warfare  was  concerned,  each  of  the  Balkan  nations 
was  under  the  tutelage  or  followed  the  tradition  of 
some  Western  power.  The  brief  outline  of  the  cam- 
paigns previously  given,  though  a  mere  sketch,  has 
made  manifest  that  the  decisive  struggles  were  not 
those  of  well-ordered  battlefields;  even  the  sieges, 
which  were  in  a  measure  decisive,  have  been  conducted 


218  THE  BALKANS 

to  a  successful  end  by  the  exhibition  of  rude,  personal, 
furious  courage,  rather  than  by  a  scientific  cooperation 
of  the  forces  engaged.  But  as  far  as  the  truth,  difficult 
at  all  times  and  everywhere  to  secure,  has  been  per- 
mitted to  be  told,  despite  the  rigid  censorship  of  both 
civilian  officials  and  military  officers  of  the  various 
nationalities,  it  seems  manifest  that  victories  have  been 
won  with  an  exhibition  of  atrocious  brutality,  indicat- 
ing a  desperate  barbarism  among  the  combatants.  The 
atrocities  practiced  by  Turks  and  Moslems  at  the  be- 
ginning unquestionably  set  an  awful  example,  but 
that  these  so-called  Christians  have  perpetrated  worse 
horrors  no  longer  admits  of  any  doubt.  It  is  with 
sorrowful  regret  that  we  admit  our  disenchantment, 
especially  in  regard  to  Greece,  where  such  brave  begin- 
nings in  the  arts  of  peace,  in  the  development  of 
humane  sentiment,  and  in  the  foundation  of  an  endur- 
ing civilization  have  been  made.  Fury  begets  fury 
we  must  admit,  and  somewhere  there  was  a  beginning 
of  horror.  Whether  efforts  have  been  made  by 
enlightened  leaders  to  check  the  frenzies  of  those  in 
the  ranks  we  cannot  know.  The  awful  truths  consti- 
tute an  indictment  which  lies  not  against  any  one  of 
the  combatants,  but  certainly  against  two  to  the  high- 
est degree,  and  probably  against  the  other  two  as  well. 
In  their  mutual  recriminations,  hard  facts,  probably 
exaggerated,  but  nevertheless  facts,  have  been  pro- 
claimed to  the  world  by  the  highest  royal,  military, 
and  civil  officials.  We  have  heard  of  children 
murdered,  of  women  ravaged,  of  men  maimed ;  we 
have  read  about  the  gouging  of  eyes,  the  hewing  of 
limbs,  the  slashing  of  faces;  we  are  told  of  human 
beings  saturated  with  oil  and  set  on  fire;  of  persons 
buried  to  the  neck  and  abandoned  to  a  slow  death  with 


THE  LATEST  WAR 


219 


basins  of  food  and  water  before  their  eyes;  of  bags 
found  by  the  wayside  filled  with  women's  ears  that 
still  contained  the  inexpensive  earrings  for  whose  sake 
the  hurried  ruffians  had  amputated  them  with  swords ; 
we  might  add  an  almost  endless  catalogue  of  shame 
and  crime,  but  it  is  needless.  Such  bestial  license  is 
attributed  to  the  example  of  the  lawless  banditti,  the 
execrable  komitadjis;  such  atrocious  deeds  have  been 
practiced  for  long  years  unchecked  in  the  villages  and 
districts  for  which  the  respective  Balkan  nations 
lusted;  and  all  this  has  been  in  the  name  of  nationality. 

Our  foremost  English  authority,  to  quote  Mr. 
Bouchier  once  again,  a  personage  kindly  received  not 
only  at  every  court,  as  we  have  said,  but  in  every 
household,  either  peasant  or  patrician,  has  published 
as  his  deliberate  opinion  that  every  one  of  the  combat- 
ants has  in  greater  or  less  degree  been  guilty  of  such 
atrocious  excesses. 

That  there  are  honorable,  high-minded,  humane  Intellectual 
strata  in  the  societies  of  all  these  people  no  one  doubts ;  *fd  M°ral 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  does  appear  as  if  even  orrup  lon 
they  had  indulged  in  pitiful  fallacies,  and  had  been  con- 
taminated by  the  memory  and  repetition  of  phrases 
and  deeds.  Quite  possibly,  such  charges  may  not  be 
proven  against  the  operations  of  regular  soldiers,  but 
like  a  band  of  demons  the  bloody  guerillas  hovered  on 
the  outskirts  of  every  army;  they  proclaimed  their 
law  to  be  that  of  retaliation ;  they  declared  that  all  was 
fair  in  war;  they  created  chaos  and  anarchy  on  every 
side;  it  does  appear  as  if  they  finally  succeeded  in 
finding  support  for  the  doctrine  that  what  elsewhere 
under  other  conditions  would  be  immoral,  disgraceful, 
and  shocking  was  then  and  there  perhaps  peculiar,  but 
great,  good,  and  grand.    Their  light  became  darkness ; 


220  THE  BALKANS 

their  humanity  became  a  perverse  and  criminal  brutal- 
ity. Perhaps  the  most  dreadful  publication  in  this 
connection  has  been  that  of  a  translation  made  by  the 
Greek  poet,  Paul  Nirvana,  from  the  rhapsodies  of  a 
Bulgarian  writer,  Ivan  Arkudoff,  who,  according  to 
some  reports,  is  a  person  favorably  received  in  the 
highest  Bulgarian  circles.     Here  is  a  specimen : 

"Before  the  day-star  marks  the  seventh  degree 
above  the  horizon  shall  the  sea  of  blood,  which  thy 
sword  unseals,  flow  seven  fathoms  higher.  Behold 
the  aged  cripple,  who  drags  along  his  wretched,  senile 
life  to  escape  death  and  thy  fury.  Trample  him  under 
foot  with  iron  heel ;  gouge  out  his  dimming  eyes, 
unworthy  ever  to  mirror  Bulgaria's  grandeur.    .    .   . 

"Why  linger,  young  Bulgarian?  Forward,  ever 
forward ! 

"Softer  than  the  flowery  meads  of  spring  is  the 
carpet  woven  from  the  corpses  of  murdered  women 
and  boys.  Refresh  thy  soul  in  the  perfume  of  their 
youth,  and  then,  tipsy  with  passion  and  heroism,  strew 
flowers  upon  the  earth,  and  march  forth  as  if  you 
were  treading  the  velvet  rugs  of  a  palace." 

The  Greek  translator  speaks  with  sneers  of  this  Bul- 
garian Pindar,  poet  to  the  court ;  denounces  him  with 
execration  and  scorn.  While  as  yet  the  Bulgarian 
retort  has  not  been  given  entire  to  the  world,  and  while 
one  shudders  at  its  possible  content,  considering  the 
charges  of  murder,  rapine,  and  desperate  brutality 
already  made  against  both  Greeks  and  Turks,  yet  what 
this  Bulgarian  has  written,  he  has  written,  and  no 
primitive  savagery,  no  desperate  barbarism,  no  shred 
of  the  wildest  war-song  of  primitive  man  has  ever 
furnished  anything  comparable  to  it.  The  words  and 
the  spectacle  are  alike  disheartening  and  repellent. 


THE  LATEST  WAR  221 

During  the  last  stage  of  the  war  Bulgaria  was  so 
hemmed  in  on  every  side  that  virtually  all  communica- 
tion with  the  outside  world  was  temporarily  shut  off. 
No  sooner,  however,  were  treaties  of  peace  signed  and 
communication  restored  than  the  Bulgarians  became 
aware  that  they  were  a  subject  of  reprobation  to  the 
entire  civilized  West.  They  immediately  organized  a 
service  of  emissaries  to  go  to  and  fro  in  America  and 
Europe  in  order  to  present  their  version  of  what  had 
actually  occurred  in  regard  to  the  atrocities  with  which 
they  were  charged.  A  Bulgarian  officer  challenged 
the  well-known  Frenchman  of  letters,  whose  pseudo- 
nym is  Pierre  Loti,  to  a  duel  because  of  what  the 
writer  had  said  and  published  in  reprobation  of  Bul- 
garia's barbarism. 

The  government  at  Sophia  has  likewise  published 
and  circulated  two  pamphlets  containing  letters  in  fac- 
simile of  Greek  soldiers  of  the  Nineteenth  Regiment, 
written  from  various  camps  to  their  homes  and 
intercepted  between  the  14th  and  27th  of  July, 
191 3.  Short  excerpts  from  two  of  these  letters  may 
fairly  represent  the  substance  of  them  all.  A  certain 
Philippos  writes,  on  the  nth  of  July:  "This  war  has 
been  very  painful.  We  have  burned  all  the  villages 
abandoned  by  the  Bulgarians.  They  burned  the  Greek 
villages  and  we  the  Bulgarian.  They  massacre,  we 
massacre.  And  against  all  those  of  that  dishonest 
nation  who  fell  into  our  hands  the  Mannlicher  rifle  has 
done  its  work.  Of  the  twelve  hundred  prisoners  we 
took  at  Nigrita  only  forty-one  remain  in  the  prisons, 
and  everywhere  we  have  been  we  have  not  left  a 
single  root  of  this  race."  Another  common  soldier, 
Karka,  on  the  12th  of  July,  1913,  indited  these 
words :  "By  order  of  the  king  we  burned  all  the  Bui- 


222  THE  BALKANS 

garian  villages  because  the  Bulgarians  burned  the 
beautiful  town  of  Seres,  Nigrita,  and  several  Greek 
villages  We  have  behaved  much  more  cruelly  than 
the  Bulgarians,  because  we  have  violated  all  the  young 
women  we  have  seized."  Other  sentences  which  occur 
here  and  there  in  various  epistles  are  as  follows :  "We 
have  only  taken  a  few  prisoners,  which  we  have  killed ; 
such  are  our  orders.  I  took  five  Bulgarians  and  a  girl 
from  Seres.  The  girl  was  killed  and  the  Bulgarians 
also  suffered.  We  picked  out  their  eyes  while  they 
were  still  alive."  Still  a  third :  "It  is  impossible  to 
describe  what  happens.  God  knows  where  this  will 
end.  The  time  has  come  for  us  to  start  eating  one 
another."  As  a  supplement  to  the  text,  there  are  given 
declarations  from  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Seres, 
who  describe  their  escape  from  Greek  atrocities  as 
miraculous,  and  also  photographs  of  the  victims 
showing  ghastly  wounds  inflicted  upon  them  by  the 
Greek  soldiery.  These  photographs  are  comparable 
only  to  such  as  might  have  been  taken  in  the  shambles 
of    unskilled   butchers. 

As,  of  course,  was  to  be  expected,  these  narratives 
have  been  stigmatized  by  the  Greeks  as  awkward  for- 
geries. Where  the  truth  lies  it  is  hard  to  discern,  but 
certainly  as  yet  even  most  dispassionate  judges  have 
been  more  severe  in  meting  out  just  reprobation  to 
Bulgaria  than  to  Greece.  The  substance  of  the  Bul- 
garian plea,  official  and  unofficial,  is  for  a  suspension 
of  judgment  in  view  of  anterior  provocation.  King 
Nicholas  of  Montenegro,  it  is  declared  by  the  pleaders, 
accompanied  by  the  Greek,  Servian,  and  Bulgarian 
ministers  at  his  court,  visited  the  hospitals  in  Tzetique, 
and  found  in  one  of  them,  lying  beside  a  patient,  a  bag 
which  on   examination   proved   to  contain   noses  cut 


THE  LATEST  WAR  223 

from  the  faces  of  Turkish  soldiers.  This,  of  course, 
sounds  like  a  counterplea  for  the  bag  of  ears  cut  from 
Greek  women  for  the  sake  of  the  little  earrings  which 
they  still  contained.  Furthermore,  a  captive  whose 
name  was  Beleff,  one  of  those  who  had  escaped  from 
among  the  heaps  of  Bulgarians  massacred  in  the  town 
of  Seres,  bore  testimony  to  the  brutality  and  ruthless- 
ness  with  which  the  Greeks  had  treated  their  prisoners. 
He  himself  had  six  wounds,  each  of  which  would  have 
been  considered  fatal.  This  again,  though  strictly  true, 
is  a  "tn  quoque"  to  the  familiar  Greek  charges.  In  the 
same  connection,  however,  Professor  Mattheeff 
admits  that  under  cruel  provocation  even  Bulgarian 
regulars  have  not  acted  with  self-restraint,  and  that 
the  komitadji  bands,  each  of  which  had  some  special 
wrong  to  avenge,  have  not  clean  hands  in  the  matter 
of  atrocious  murder.  He  asks  merely  that  Bulgarians 
should  not  be  considered  monsters,  while  the  Greeks 
are  held  up  as  saints. 

This  kind  of  pleading  is  familiar  to  all  who  have  the 
slightest  acquaintance  among  people  of  primitive 
civilization.  To  the  rather  childish  excuse  he  adds  the 
significant  remark:  "The  Eastern  question  is  as  far 
from  being  solved  as  ever.  .  .  .  Our  mistakes  never 
merited  such  a  humiliation,  nor  such  a  despoilment, 
one  without  precedent."  The  Greeks,  he  further 
declares,  when  withdrawing  from  territories  once  oc- 
cupied by  them,  but  now  assigned  to  Bulgaria,  burn 
and  destroy  every  vestige  of  property  which  had 
escaped  destruction  during  the  eight  months'  warfare, 
and  announce  to  the  world  that  this  destruction  is  the 
work  of  the  inhabitants  who  cannot  endure  the  thought 
of  living  under  Bulgarian  rule.  In  another  published 
plea  Professor  Stephanove  denies  that  Bulgaria  was 


224  THE  BALKANS 

the  aggressor  in  the  renewal  of  the  Balkan  wars.  His 
colleague  admits  that  quite  possibly  Bulgaria  had  not 
acted  wisely  in  the  renewal  of  hostilities!  That 
although  her  cause  was  just,  quite  possibly  she  should 
not  have  exacted  the  letter  of  her  bond! 

Such  a  parallel  between  two  apologists  indicates  the 
national  temper.  No  one  dreams  for  a  moment  that 
the  Bulgarians  arc,  without  exception,  utter  savages. 
What  has  previously  been  said  sufficiently  proves  how 
marvelous  has  been  the  development  of  the  people 
under  leaders  educated  in  the  arts  of  peace.  But, 
after  all,  in  every  nation,  the  foremost  men,  the  best 
elements  in  the  population,  feel  their  responsibility  in 
the  behavior  of  the  nation  as  a  whole,  and  whatever 
may  have  been  the  sins  of  others,  there  is  a  profound 
impression  throughout  the  Western  world  that  the 
Bulgarian  outrages  were  the  most  frightful  perpe- 
trated, with  the  exception  of  those  committed  by  the 
Turkish  Bashi-bazooks ;  and  that  during  the  conflict 
these  outrages  were  well  known  at  headquarters,  and 
were  not  reprobated  sufficiently  even  to  mitigate  them. 

Professor  Stephanove  calls  the  secret  treaty  con- 
cluded in  May,  1913,  between  Turkey  and  Greece,  a 
conspiracy.  Bulgaria  at  the  height  of  victory  was  not 
an  inspiring  spectacle.  She  permitted  substantially  no 
news  to  reach  the  outside  world,  and  the  little  which 
did  percolate  through  various  channels  to  foreign  ears 
led  to  the  general  belief  that  her  conduct  of  the  war 
was  ruthless  and  that  her  victories  were  largely  won 
by  brutality.  Add  to  that  fact  the  further  profound 
conviction  that  her  guerilla  bands  were  quite  the  most 
active  and  apparently  the  most  desperate;  further- 
more, that  as  time  went  by  she  manifestly  intended  to 
reap  where  she  had  not  sown,  as,  for  instance,  in  the 


THE  LATEST  WAR  225 

case  of  Salonica.  Can  we  wonder  that  Rumania,  Ser- 
via,  and  Greece  saw  in  her  a  power  destined,  unless 
checked,  to  become  dominant  in  the  Balkans?  Was 
there  any  fallacy  in  the  reasoning  that  it  would  be 
better  to  curb  that  power  at  once  than  permit  them- 
selves to  be  annihilated  in  the  near  future?  In  any 
case,  an  understanding  was  reached,  whether  honor- 
able or  dishonorable,  whereby  Greece  promised  armed 
assistance  to  Turkey  for  the  reoccupation  of  Adrian- 
ople  in  return  for  Turkish  aid  in  the  seizure  of  south- 
eastern Thrace  by  Greece.  It  was  then  that  Rumania 
intervened,  attacked  Bulgaria  in  the  rear,  compelled  a 
cessation  of  hostilities  and  eventually  the  disarmament 
of  her  southern  neighbor. 

In  the  effort,  therefore,  to  judge  the  situation  dis- 
passionately we  come  to  the  disheartening  conclusion 
that  dishonor,  atrocious  brutality,  and  entire  absence 
of  chivalry  have  marked  the  conduct  of  the  war  by 
most,  if  not  all,  of  the  combatants.  We  might  have 
been  disposed  to  think  Servia  the  most  innocent,  were 
it  not  that  the  commission  of  the  Carnegie  Peace 
Foundation  in  its  efforts  to  secure  the  truth  and 
enlighten  public  opinion  far  and  near,  and  to  stamp 
with  authoritative  if  not  final  judgments  the  number- 
less rumors,  met  with  such  scanty  courtesy  in  Belgrade 
at  the  hands  of  the  Servians,  who  seemed  utterly 
unwilling  to  give  evidence  sufficient  to  acquit  them  of 
very  similar  behavior.  We  cannot  think  that  the 
choice  of  Professor  Milyukoff  to  head  that  commission 
was  entirely  wise.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  he  is  a  man 
of  high  quality,  thoroughly  familiar  with  south  Slavic 
conditions,  and  a  genuine  liberal.  But  he  is  neverthe- 
less a  Russian  and,  therefore,  subject  to  the  suspicion, 
however  unmerited,  of  sympathy  with  Bulgaria.     The 


226  THE  BALKANS 

commission  passed  on  under  his  leadership  to  Salonica, 
where  it  found  more  consideration  at  the  hands  of  the 
Greeks. 

Sir  Edward  Grey  emphatically  declared  before 
Parliament  that  Europe  had  not  often,  if  ever, 
witnessed  a  more  distressing  spectacle  than  the  pro- 
gressive events  of  these  wars.  Beginning  on  the  plea 
of  liberation,  they  became  a  struggle  for  conquest  and 
ended  as  a  war  of  extermination.  This  latest  word, 
"extermination,"  was  first  used  in  southeastern  Europe 
itself,  and  the  British  statesman  hesitates  to  accept  it 
as  literally  true.  But  alas !  the  more  we  know  the 
more  we  feel  that  all  the  conflicts  have  been  no  better 
than  a  human  conflagration.  The  wars  must  be  over, 
for  there  is  no  physical  strength  or  available  property, 
real  or  personal,  which  has  not  been  exhaustively  used 
in  the  struggle. 

Corroborative  evidence  of  this  fact  has  just  been 
published  in  a  report  from  Ashmead  Bartlett,  whose 
name  is  a  guarantee,  both  for  his  keenness  as  an  obser- 
ver and  the  accuracy  of  his  descriptions.  He  says : 
"I  have  been  fifty  kilometers  beyond  the  Turkish 
advanced  posts,  and  I  am  the  first  independent  eye- 
witness who  has  visited  these  parts  since  the  outbreak 
of  the  war.  I  have  just  seen  sights  and  have  been 
through  experiences  which  I  never  wish  to  go  through 
again.  I  have  had  deputations  of  the  surviving 
inhabitants.  Both  Greeks  and  Mussulmans  beg  me 
with  tears  in  their  eyes  to  do  something  for  them,  to 
expose  their  wrongs  to  Europe,  and  to  lay  their  cause 
before  the  Powers  so  that  something  may  be  done  for 
them  in  the  future.  .  .  .  The  state  of  these  districts 
west  of  the  Maritza  which  I  visited  defies  all  descrip- 
tion.    The  country  looks  as  if  it  had  been  swept  by  a 


THE  LATEST  WAR  227 

terrible  earthquake,  or  as  if  a  horde  of  Huns  under 
some  modern  Attila  had  made  a  clean  sweep  of  every- 
thing in  their  onward  progress.  .  .  .  Again  I  can 
only  repeat,  let  an  impartial  commission  be  sent  out 
to  investigate  the  truth  of  the  charges  I  am  obliged  to 
make  against  the  Bulgarian  army.  It  is  almost  im- 
possible to  believe  one  is  living  in  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury with  such  evidences  of  man's  ferocity  all  around. 
The  experience  is  more  like  reading  some  chapter  of 
ancient  history  describing  the  sweeping  away  of  the 
decaying  Roman  empire  by  hordes  of  barbarians  from 
the  North;  but  in  a  telegram  it  is  impossible  to  do 
justice  to  what  I  have  seen." 

It  is  a  maxim  of  justice  that  every  person  and  all 
peoples  have  a  right  to  be  judged  from  the  standpoint 
of  their  own  position  and  culture.  The  more  closely 
peoples  in  different  stages  of  development  have  been 
Drought  in  contact  with  each  other  and  under  observa- 
tion, therefore,  by  critical  travelers  alike  of  the  upper 
and  the  lower  strata  from  each  and  all  the  nations, 
the  more  severe  has  become  the  condemnation  of  the 
faults  and  vices  of  the  foreigners.  The  Balkan 
peninsula  has  been  properly  called  an  historical  labora- 
tory. Not  only  are  scores  of  race  elements  there  com- 
mingled, but  the  identical  influences  and  similar 
manners  which  were  at  work  further  west  three 
centuries  ago  are  still  dominant.  It  is,  therefore, 
utterly  unjust  to  regard  the  recent  infernal  and 
atrocious  conduct  of  the  Balkan  peoples,  which  it 
distresses  us  even  to  mention,  from  the  point  of  view 
of  what  is  styled  in  our  Western  world  humane  war- 
fare. To  the  dispassionate  observer  it  is  manifest  that 
these  people,  tottering  as  are  their  footsteps,  unchas- 
tened  as  are  their  passions,  childish  as  is  their  disci- 


228 


THE  BALKANS 


The  Powers 
and  the 
Treaty  of 
Peace 


pline,  are  nevertheless  struggling  forward  along  the 
path  of  progress.  We  dare  not  condone  their  faults 
nor  mitigate  any  outraged  estimate  of  their  behavior, 
but  we  should  and  must  offer  them  a  helping  hand. 
It  is  our  bounden  duty  to  lay  upon  them  the  rod  of 
moral  correction,  and,  above  all,  we  should  offer  for 
this  crude  but  nevertheless  dawning  civilization  the 
type  of  example  which  far  transcends  in  its  influence 
either  indignation  or  attempted  tutelage. 

The  alliance  of  the  South  Slavic  powers  was,  of 
course,  a  mere  temporary  expedient ;  but  it  worked  for 
a  time,  and  deserved  more  respect  from  those  who 
were  parties  to  it  than  was  manifest  in  the  shocking 
outburst  of  greed  exhibited  even  before  the  boundary 
line  of  European  Turkey  had  tentatively  been  fixed  by 
the  European  conference,  and  the  treaty  of  peace  as 
between  Turkey  and  the  alliance  signed  by  the 
plenipotentiaries.  The  concert  between  the  great 
powers  themselves  was  loyally  maintained.  When  all 
the  considerations,  historic,  economic,  racial,  and  reli- 
gious, which  have  hung  in  the  balance,  are  taken  into 
account,  it  is  amazing  that  a  body  of  statesmen,  sharply 
divided  into  two  groups  by  the  Triple  Alliance  and  the 
Triple  Entente,  should,  for  the  single  reason  of  pre- 
serving peace,  have  been  able  to  arrange  what  was 
at  least  something  more  than  a  truce,  a  temporary 
treaty.  Retribution  as  regards  nations  is  almost  as 
certain  as  in  the  case  of  individuals.  The  repeated  and 
defiant  violations  of  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  within  the 
first  thirty  years  after  it  had  been  so  carefully  promul- 
gated as  the  public  charter  for  all  Europe  did  not 
pass  unnoticed  in  Turkey  or  in  the  Balkan  States. 
There  was  a  day  when  men  talked  at  least  about 
the    inviolability    of    treaties.     For    two    generations 


THE  LATEST  WAR  229 

past  the  great  treaties  have  been  made  apparently 
only  as  prize  fighters  spar  for  wind  and  gain  time  by 
feints. 

Nevertheless,  the  statesmen  assembled  at  London 
evaded  the  most  difficult  of  all  the  questions  arising 
from  Turkish  discomfiture:  the  question,  to  wit,  of 
how  the  victorious  Allies  would  divide  among  them- 
selves the  conquered  territory.  One  of  them  has 
declared  that  they  "trusted,  as  all  Europe  and  as  all 
the  world  trusted,  that  this  would  be  found  to  be  a 
matter  for  mutual  and  friendly  agreement  between  the 
parties  concerned."  Immediately  before  them,  and 
under  their  very  eyes,  had  been,  in  the  meeting  of  the 
plenipotentiaries  from  the  various  states  concerned  in 
the  war,  a  perfect  example  of  Oriental  diplomacy, 
procrastination,  and  guile.  The  ambassadors  were 
indeed  a  trustful  body,  and  their  trust  was  the  more 
simple  in  that  they,  they  alone,  were  responsible  for 
having  injected  into  the  already  seething,  boiling  cal- 
dron of  Balkan  politics  an  absolute  novelty ;  the  delimi- 
tation of  Albania  and  the  settlement  of  how  far  it 
should  or  could  be  self -governed,  and  of  how  far  it 
should  be  a  protectorate,  and  of  whom. 

Enough  has  been  said  about  Bulgaria  to  indicate  Bulgaria's 
that  little  surprise  was  felt  when  it  appeared  that  she  Mistake 
proposed  for  herself  the  lion's  share  of  the  prey, 
which,  as  considering  herself  the  lion  in  the  onslaught, 
was  hers  by  right.  This  was,  for  the  time  being  at 
least,  her  undoing  and  the  cause  of  her  deepest  humil- 
iation. She  has  never  since  the  declaration  of  her 
independence  found  herself  in  a  plight  so  sorry.  It 
taxed  all  her  powers,  and  to  the  very  utmost,  to  meet 
the  main  forces  of  Turkey,  which  was  her  task  in  the 
war ;  and  it  was  in  a  panting  exhaustion  that  her  troops 


230  THE  BALKANS 

entered  Adrianople.  Had  she  been  in  the  hands  of 
really  able  statesmen,  and  her  troops  been  led  by  a 
wise  commander-in-chief,  she  would  have  realized  her 
incapacity,  at  least  at  the  moment  and  for  years  to 
come,  to  make  real  the  vision  of  a  Great  Bulgaria. 
Through  the  storm  of  recrimination  it  is  hard  to  dis- 
cern how  far  Prime  Minister  Daneff  and  Commander- 
in-Chief  Savoff  represented  public  feeling  or  yielded 
to  an  irresistible  public  pressure,  when  they  assumed 
an  arrogant  offensive  against  their  recent  allies  and 
reopened  the  bloody  strife.  Whatever  the  case,  great 
men  would  somehow  have  restrained  the  mob  and  by 
constitutional  measures  secured  the  necessary  delay 
for  recuperation.  As  it  was,  it  is  now  manifest  that 
in  the  mad  venture  Bulgaria  could  gain  nothing  and 
must  lose  much. 
Autonomy  for  Balkan  statesmen,  so  called,  are  charged  with  being 
Macedonia  utterly  disingenuous ;  and  in  support  of  the  charge  it  is 
pointed  out  that  Bulgaria's  demand  and  policy  as 
regards  Macedonia  is  what  is  known  as  flying  a  kite. 
She  naturally  expects  to  cast  off  her  sackcloth  and 
ashes;  she  still  hopes  for  pity  and  protection  from  a 
Western  world  which  so  long  admired  her  as  a  patient, 
powerful  people,  developing  high  qualities  under  first- 
class  statesmanship ;  what  she  still  desires  is  exhibited 
in  the  proposals  she  has  vainly  struggled  to  enforce 
for  the  complete  autonomy  of  Macedonia.  There 
seems  no  doubt  that,  having  secured  so  much,  she 
would  exert  efforts  to  bring  about  with  an  autonomous 
Macedonia  what  previously  happened  with  an  autono- 
mous Rumelia.  Having  shown,  on  the  whole,  a  higher 
capacity  than  any  of  the  conterminous  states  for  self- 
government,  she  obtained  a  hearing  for  the  incessant 
iteration  of  a  truth;  that  the  districts  of  Monastir  and 


THE  LATEST  WAR  231 

Ochrida  were  Bulgarian.  About  this  there  was  such  a 
perpetual  clatter  that  Greece  could  get  no  hearing  as  to 
what  was  equally  true,  namely,  that  Chalcidice, 
Drama,  and  the  whole  shore  line  were  Greek,  except 
that  the  trading  city  of  Salonica,  with  its  wonderful 
harbor,  is  first  Jewish  and  secondly  Greek. 

From  these  considerations  it  is  perfectly  evident 
why  Greece  bitterly  opposed  autonomy  for  all  Mace- 
donia, but  urged  it  for  the  Greek-speaking  districts 
of  that  province,  a  proposition  quite  as  far  from  being 
disinterested  as  that  of  Bulgaria,  inasmuch  as  when 
time  and  opportunity  were  ripe  an  autonomous  Greek 
province  would  fall  into  the  lap  of  Greece.  Either 
proposition  would  simply  have  reproduced  the  old  hor- 
rible conditions.  Bulgarian  bands  would  be  making 
propaganda  in  such  a  Greek  principality,  and  in  an 
entire  Macedonia  the  identical,  unregenerate  komitad- 
jis  of  Bulgaria,  Greece,  and  Servia  would  be  carrying 
on  their  fell  work.  Quite  possibly,  the  fate  of  Salonica 
is  a  question  by  itself.  There  has  been  a  suggestion 
that  it  should  be  jointly  occupied  and  held  by  Greece, 
Servia,  and  Bulgaria;  another  that  Bulgaria  should 
occupy  it  and  not  possess  it,  being  the  only  one  of  the 
three  powers  likely  to  develop  sufficient  strength  to  pro- 
tect it,  and  that  in  the  long  run  she  would  seize  and 
hold  it  anyhow.  Then  there  were  the  questions  of  Ser- 
via's  access  to  the  Adriatic,  of  territorial  compensation 
for  Montenegro,  and  of  the  neutralization  of  possibly 
the  most  important  sea  channel  of  the  Adriatic, 
namely,  the  Straits  of  Corfu  between  that  island  and 
the  mainland.  The  situation  contemplated  in  the  Lon- 
don treaty,  which  sought  to  establish  the  Enos-Midia 
boundary  line  for  Turkey,  contemplated  a  state  of 
things   which  within  two  months   appeared  as   anti- 


232  THE  BALKANS 

quated  as  if  the  interval  had  been  two  centuries,  so 
swift  was  the  crumbling  of  Bulgarian  power. 

The  perpetual  cry  was  "Peace,  peace,"  but  appar- 
ently there  could  be  no  peace  until  all  the  parties  to  this 
quarrel  admitted  their  utter  exhaustion  and  negotiated 
among  themselves  some  patchwork  containing  pro- 
visions to  which  they  would  pay  regard  only  as  long 
as  their  exhaustion  lasted.  An  English  statesman 
admitted  in  Parliament  that  armed  intervention  by 
Great  Britain  was  impossible.  He  dared  not  state, 
but  he  must  have  considered,  that  to  compel  peace, 
decency,  and  amicable  relations  among  these  semi- 
civilized  peoples,  intoxicated  with  Western  ideas, 
utterly  unsuited  to  them,  and  which  stormed  through 
their  veins  like  poison,  was  chimerical. 
Enter  This  was  the  juncture  where  Rumania  entered  upon 

Rumania  ^he  scene  anci   invaded   Bulgaria.     Were  a  nation  a 

personality,  its  neighbors  might  charge  Rumania  with 
a  policy  of  cold,  calculating  selfishness.  While  wars 
were  raging  to  the  south,  she  was  strengthening  her 
finances,  perfecting  her  military  power,  and  consoli- 
dating public  opinion  within  her  borders.  Her  wily 
leaders  were  on  the  Balkan  watch  tower,  viewing  the 
southern  horizon,  keenly  eager  to  seize  the  swiftly  com- 
ing opportunity  for  aggrandizement — regulating  the 
balance  of  Balkan  power,  they  called  it — by  swooping 
down  upon  what  they  intended  to  be  their  share  of  a 
booty,  in  the  capture  of  which  they  had  not  in  the  least 
assisted.  The  tendency,  however,  to  speak  of  nations 
as  if  they  were  human  personalities,  has  become  the 
most  subtle  fallacy  of  modern  life.  Nations  can  feel 
human  emotions  collectively  only  in  so  far  as  they  have 
common  worldly  and  material  interests.  Devotion  to  a 
common  form  of  Christianity  is  universal  in  the  Bal- 


THE  LATEST  WAR  233 

kans,  but  it  has  produced  no  Christian  virtues  in  inter- 
national relations;  quite  the  awful  contrary.  Neither 
spiritual  nor  aesthetic  community  of  interest  can  allay 
material  rivalries. 

It  is  the  plain,  unvarnished  truth  that  a  statesman's 
duty  is  to  safeguard  the  material  interests  of  his  nation 
in  the  first  instance;  to  remember  that  what  does  not 
grow  is  dead  or  dying;  that  the  higher  welfare  of 
those  whose  interests  he  represents  is  a  sequel  to  the 
peace  and  contentment  which  come  from  comfortable 
living.  National  afflictions,  like  human  sorrow,  are 
necessary  for  reproof  and  chastisement,  but  it  is  not 
the  concern  of  statesmen  or  princes  deliberately  to 
provoke  them.  Viewed  from  this  standpoint, 
Rumania's  conduct  has  been  marked  by  the  highest 
degree  of  worldly  wisdom  and  common  sense.  It  is 
accepted  as  a  fact,  though  as  yet  there  is  no  proof, 
that  at  any  time  she  would  have  joined  hands  with 
Bulgaria  to  "correct  their  common  frontier" ;  in  other 
words,  secure  from  Bulgaria  an  important  cession  of 
territory.  Reproaches  are  heaped  upon  Bulgarian 
statesmen  that  they  did  not  accept  such  an  opportunity, 
yield  to  Rumania  the  desired  piece  of  shore  line  on 
the  Euxine,  by  her  aid  hold  firmly  the  much  more 
valuable  lands  won  from  Turkey,  and  then  force  upon 
both  Greece  and  Servia  a  settlement  equable  to  all, 
which  would  have  forever  laid  the  devilish  spirits 
which  have  held  Macedonia  as  a  fief  of  Satan  himself. 
Whether  or  not  the  Rumanians  are  fine  soldiers,  their 
generals  great  strategists  and  tacticians,  is  of  course 
uncertain,  and  therefore  there  is  nothing  to  be  said 
about  the  behavior  either  of  them  or  of  their  kinsfolk, 
the  wild  Vlachs,  amid  the  horrors  of  war.  They  were 
not  called  into  activity  and  we  know  nothing  of  their 


234  THE  BALKANS 

possible  behavior ;  we  only  know  that  at  the  hands  of 
the  komitadjis  their  related  tribes  in  Macedonia  have 
suffered  little  molestation  and  have  remained  strangely 
passive. 

As  once  before,  Albanian  turbulence  may  at  any 
time  menace,  if  not  disrupt,  the  bonds  of  Balkan  peace. 
In  October,  1913,  civil  war  was  raging  among  the 
clansmen  of  the  new  nation.  The  provisional  minister 
of  war,  Mufid,  was  marshaling  the  Turkish  sympa- 
thizers against  the  rebels  under  Essad,  who  unfurls  the 
Austrian  standard.  Albanian  emissaries  were  appeal- 
ing for  support  to  their  compatriots  within  Servian 
boundaries.  The  Servian  government,  convinced  that 
this  was  the  work  of  former  foes,  was  preparing  to 
reoccupy  the  strategic  points  she  once  held  but  aban- 
doned at  the  behest  of  Western  Europe.  Similar 
events  have  been  recurring  ever  since. 
Servia  and  Thus  far  the  most  striking  phenomenon  of  contem- 

Greece  porary  Balkan  history  is  not  the  awakening  of  national 

consciousness  in  Albania,  as  many  claim.  Most  cool 
observers  believe  that  feeling,  if  not  actually  created, 
at  least  to  have  been  artificially  promoted  by  the  two 
great  powers  of  the  Adriatic  in  order  to  secure  the 
tenure  of  its  eastern  shore  by  feeble  and  quarreling 
little  nations. 

Nor,  it  must  be  confessed,  has  Montenegro  fulfilled 
the  promise  of  her  early  history:  her  men  have 
fought  gallantly,  her  women  have  slaved  uncomplain- 
ingly, but  her  achievement  was,  after  all,  slight.  What 
military  strength  and  personal  courage  could  not  ac- 
complish, the  capture  of  Scutari,  was,  it  is  to  be  feared, 
brought  about  by  a  rather  low  conspiracy  in  part;  in 
part  by  stolid  endurance,  and  was  concluded  with  a 
showy  boastfulness  that  made  the  performance  theatri- 


THE  LATEST  WAR  235 

cal  and  tawdry.  The  central,  outstanding,  command- 
ing fact  of  the  conflict  has  been  the  moral  revival  of 
both  Servia  and  Greece.  At  no  time, were  the  Servian 
komitadjis  as  numerous  or  as  vicious  as  those  of  the 
other  powers,  and  the  reactionary  effect  of  komitadji 
brutalities  was  less  than  in  Greece.  Moreover,  the  peo- 
ple are  vastly  less  impressionable  and  mercurial  than 
the  Greeks,  being  of  pure  Slav  blood  and  having  no 
intermixture  of  Mediterranean  excitability  and  vivac- 
ity in  their  stock.  They  have  not  developed  great 
statesmanship,  and  the  blot  of  conspiracy  still  deprives 
their  royal  house  of  any  luster;  nor  have  they  developed 
any  extraordinary  military  leadership.  But  they  have 
shown  admirable  powers  of  organization,  cooperation, 
and  self-restraint ;  they  have  fought  stubbornly  and 
even  gallantly;  and  their  military  leaders,  if  not  bril- 
liant, have  at  least  been  safe.  The  result  of  all  this 
must  be  the  final  emancipation  of  Servia  from  the 
galling  economic  tyranny  of  her  neighbors,  a  substan- 
tial increase  of  territory,  and  a  sobriety  in  the  conduct 
of  her  affairs.  Her  temptation,  of  course,  is  the 
"Great  Idea"  of  the  Great  Servia,  but  she  has  before 
her  the  awful  warning  of  what  happened  to  Bulgaria 
in  the  mad  pursuit  of  the  corresponding  "Great  Bul- 
garia" idea. 

It  is  difficult  to  be  just  to  Greece.  She  owes  her 
existence  in  a  measure  to  the  spirit  of  her  own  people, 
but  in  still  higher  degree  to  the  philhellenism  of  the 
Western  world.  There  have  been  epochs  in  her  newer 
life  when  her  conduct  was  altogether  creditable,  but 
there  have  been  longer  epochs  where  she  has  behaved 
like  a  naughty  and  irresponsible  child,  squandering 
her  fortunes,  jeopardizing  her  repute  among  the  na- 
tions, boasting  an  enterprise  which  she  did  not  possess, 


236  THE  BALKANS 

and  generally  perplexing  the  friends  and  lovers  of  a 
land  felt  to  be  consecrated  in  the  history  of  thought, 
of  culture,  and  of  art. 

As  if  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  her  peoples  became 
grave;  they  formed  and  cherished  a  solemn  purpose; 
they  made  immense  sacrifices,  and  that  without  obser- 
vation, to  accumulate  a  substantial  war  fund;  they 
passed  through  a  constitutional  revolution  fomented 
by  military  circles  without  civil  war  or  anarchy ;  they 
subjected  themselves  to  the  sternest  discipline  after 
its  completion ;  they  restored  free  government  and 
knitted  up  a  strong  and  working  national  organism. 
Thoroughly  prepared  and  equipped  in  a  measure  dis- 
proportionate to  their  slender  resources,  alike  by  land 
and  sea,  they  advanced  on  the  outbreak  of  war  to  the 
fulfillment  of  the  obligations  they  had  assumed  when 
the  Balkan  alliance  was  formed.  Like  their  remote 
ancestors,  they  have  always  been  a  seafaring  folk,  and 
their  new  navy,  tiny  in  comparison  with  others, 
effectually  policed  a  great  extent  of  waters,  and  won 
many  victories  which,  though  materially  slight,  were 
morally  all-important.  The  base  assassination  of  their 
king  inspired  them  with  a  determination  even  more 
grim. 

There  came  to  the  throne  an  excellent  ruler,  familiar 
throughout  his  life  with  the  qualities  of  his  people, 
educated  in  the  best  traditions  of  royalty  by  his  par- 
ents and  his  consort,  and  exhibiting  substantial  ca- 
pacity alike  for  statesmanship  and  for  warfare.  The 
so-called  military  revolution,  a  movement  for  produc- 
ing greater  efficiency  in  both  army  and  navy,  inspired 
by  the  officers  of  both,  originated  in  1909  and  was 
successfully  concluded  in  19 10.  For  a  time  it  actually 
suspended  constitutional  government.      Neither  Con- 


THE  LATEST  WAR  237 

stantine  nor  his  pleasure-loving  brother  was  slow  to 
learn  the  lessons  it  so  thoroughly  taught.  The  new 
king  is  a  devoted  soldier.  But,  what  was  more  inter- 
esting still,  the  hour  produced  the  man — the  states- 
man of  controlling,  constructive  power.  From  among 
the  Greeks  of  Crete  there  was  brought  to  Athens  a 
statesman  inferior  to  none  now  living  and  superior  to 
most.  It  appeared  as  if  the  strength  and  wisdom  of 
Venezelos  had  taken  possession  of  all  the  millions, 
speaking  modern  Greek  within  and  without  the  king- 
dom of  the  Hellenes.  In  the  ministerial  Cabinet,  in 
the  deliberations  of  diplomatists,  and  in  the  formation 
of  national  and  international  opinion  alike,  his  has 
been  a  commanding  figure.  The  regular  troops  of 
Greece  have  throughout  the  war  distinguished  them- 
selves by  discipline  and  undaunted  courage.  The  blot 
upon  the  good  name  of  the  nation  was  not  created 
by  national  temper  or  impulse. 

The  Greek  komitadjis  have  always  been  savage 
frontier  banditti,  lurking  amid  inaccessible  cliffs, 
existing  by  murder  and  confiscation,  and,  in  short, 
yielding  in  savagery  to  no  others.  That  they  have  had 
some  pecuniary  assistance  from  individuals  in  the 
more  civilized  parts  of  Greece,  from  Greeks  abroad, 
and  quite  possibly  from  agents  of  the  Western  powers, 
is  the  suspicion  of  great  numbers.  They  have  likewise 
enjoyed  the  sympathy  of  many  sentimentalists  among 
their  own  and  other  peoples,  who  could  not  possibly 
have  been  aware  of  their  terrible  deeds.  For  these 
reasons  their  romantic  daring  has  had  some  retro- 
active effect  in  Greece  itself.  It  was  a  matter  for 
wonder  and  for  some  reflection  when  there  began 
to  emanate  from  Greek  sources  long  telegraphic 
dispatches  calling  the  attention  of  the  civilized  world 


238  THE  BALKANS 

to  the  atrocities  permitted  by  Bulgaria.  The  question 
was,  had  the  Greeks  been  practicing  the  guile  for 
which  of  old  they  were  renowned,  and  taking  a  leaf 
from  the  Bulgarian  book?  The  agents  they  dispatched 
with  much  publicity  to  investigate  the  shameful  deeds 
of  others  about  which  there  was  no  question,  might 
possibly  have  been  better  employed  in  investigating 
their  own  kinsfolk  and  ending  forever  the  activities  of 
both  the  Greek  and  the  Turkish  komitadjis  along  the 
frontiers  of  the  northeast. 
Summary  But  whatever  sadness  may  be  felt  in  this  regard  by 

those  without,  there  is  no  doubt  that  Greece  and  Servia 
alike  have  seen  a  new  light,  cherish  new  hopes,  and 
have  become  powerful  rivals  for  the  hegemony  of 
the  Balkans  to  either  Bulgaria  or  Rumania.  That 
Rumania's  intervention  in  the  role  of  arbiter,  espe- 
cially in  compelling  peace,  gives  her  a  position  of 
great  eminence,  must  be  unquestioned ;  but  Greece  has 
the  foremost  statesman,  Servia  holds  the  most  critical 
frontier  post,  Bulgaria  claims  the  strongest  powers 
of  recuperation.  Turkey  has  been  eliminated  as  a 
political  force  in  Europe,  except  in  so  far  as  her  tenure 
of  Constantinople  and  her  spiritual  leadership  of  the 
Moslem  world  must  ever  keep  her  in  wardship  to  the 
balance  of  power  in  Western  Europe.  May  the  tem- 
porary, if  not  final,  readjustment  of  relations  on  the 
Balkan  peninsula  be  sufficiently  enduring  for  the  re- 
spective states  to  indulge  in  a  long  period  of  self- 
examination;  may  they  recall  at  every  moment  the 
hideousness  of  the  struggle  in  which  they  have  been 
engaged,  and  may  some  elements  of  humanity,  some 
sense  of  duty,  some  sacrifice  of  ambition  to  simple 
expediency  enter  into  their  public  policies  and  perme- 
ate the  private  lives  of  their  inhabitants. 


IX 

THE   SIX    POWERS  AND  THE  BALKAN 
WARS 


239 


IX 

THE  SIX   POWERS  AND  THE  BALKAN   WARS 

"Le  moment  ou  je  parle  est  deja  loin  de  moi,"  was  Attitude  and 
said  of  the  swift  movements  in  events  a  century  ago  by  Temper  of 
John  Quincy  Adams,  in  June,  1813.  It  seems  highly  "The  Powers" 
probable  that  our  essay  in  contemporary  history  may 
be  antiquated  before  it  is  printed.  In  the  perspective 
of  a  few  years  hence,  however,  the  temper  of  the 
great  powers  will  certainly  be  seen  to  have  undergone 
in  this  epoch  a  marked  change  from  that  which  it  had 
exhibited  in  the  previous  one.  Already  many  writers 
occupy  themselves  with  discovering  reasons  why  their 
relations  one  to  another  and  collectively  to  the  rest 
of  the  world  were  marked  by  so  high  a  degree  of  self- 
restraint.  Some  insist  that  they  were  unready  for 
war,  or  at  least  that  they  had  not  completed  their 
arrangements  for  the  increase  of  their  armaments  in 
a  proportionate  degree.  Another  opinion  is  that  their 
dispassionate  attitude  was  due  to  their  fixed  resolve 
not  to  allow  any  one  of  the  Balkan  powers  or  a  federa- 
tion of  them  to  acquire  strength  sufficient  to  entitle 
them  to  consideration  as  a  seventh  great  power. 
While  it  is  true  that  the  so-called  balance  of  power 
and  the  peace  prevailing  between  the  great  nations 
were  in  a  condition  of  very  unstable  equilibrium,  yet 
the  course  of  events  justifies  our  conviction  that,  as 
far  as  the  public  opinion  of  Europe  was  concerned, 
the  new  humane  spirit  which  is  everywhere  manifest 
among   the    intelligent,    intellectual,    and    thoughtful 

241 


242  THE  BALKANS 

classes  was  sufficiently  powerful  to  compel  recogni- 
tion, especially  as  the  horrors  of  the  struggle,  growing 
ever  more  shocking,  served  as  an  awful  example  to 
the  military  and  bellicose  minority  everywhere. 

In  any  case,  we  have  heard  on  the  highest  authority 
that  from  the  beginning  the  Foreign  Offices  of  Lon- 
don, Berlin,  Saint  Petersburg,  Vienna,  Rome,  and 
Paris  were  of  one  mind  as  to  the  vital  question  of 
localizing  the  war.  In  this,  throughout  the  long  ses- 
sions of  their  ambassadors  in  Saint  James's  Palace, 
the  two  different  sets  of  Allies  heartily  agreed. 
Agreements  Their  first  care,   of   course,   was   to   convince  the 

general  public  that  what  had  passed  for  axiomatic  was 
utterly  fallacious,  namely,  that  should  war  break  out 
in  the  Balkans,  one  or  more  of  the  great  powers  would 
of  necessity  be  involved  in  it,  and  that  the  peace  of 
all  Europe  might  be  endangered.  This  accomplished, 
they  turned  their  attention  to  what  issues  were  be- 
lieved to  be  of  vital  importance  to  them  all.  From 
their  discussions  there  emerged  the  fact  that  unity  of 
action  could  be  secured  only  by  a  self-denying  ordi- 
nance, and  accordingly  they  agreed  one  and  all  that 
no  one  of  them  should  make  any  effort  to  increase 
its  territorial  possessions  in  any  part  of  the  world.1 
To  both  of  the  inevitable  questions,  questions  without 
a  satisfactory  settlement  of  which  agreement  among 
all  six  was  impossible,  reference  has  frequently  been 
made,  namely,  to  the  creation  of  a  new  minor  state, 
Albania,  and  to  the  disposition  of  the  yEgean  Islands. 
In  no  uncertain  tones  they  gave  the  warring  powers 
to  understand  that  Constantinople,  the  Straits,  and 
Asiatic  Turkey  were  not  to  be  involved  in  the  field 

•The  world  docs  move.     The  reader  will  note  in  this  a  temper  utterly  different 
from  that  displayed  at  Berlin  in  1878. 


SIX  POWERS  AND  BALKAN  WARS    243 

of  operations;  in  other  words,  that  whatever  the  out- 
come of  the  war,  and  however  diminished  her  Euro- 
pean possessions  might  be,  there  was  to  be  at  the  close 
a  Turkey  in  Europe  that  should  be  the  seat  of  power 
for  the  head  of  Islam  ruling  as  caliph  in  the  spiritual 
affairs  of  all  Mohammedans,  and  as  secular  prince 
over  the  lands  of  Asia  where  a  majority  of  the  popu- 
lation were  Turks. 

It  is  extremely  difficult  to  bring  into  being  a  nation-  Creating  a 
ality  which  probably  never  existed,  and  would  not  Nation 
now  be  in  existence  except  for  the  exigencies  of  Euro- 
pean politics.  It  was,  therefore,  the  main  work  of 
the  negotiators  at  London  to  secure  unanimity  as  to 
the  boundary  lines  of  an  Albania  which  was  to  be 
not  merely  a  geographical  expression,  but  an  admin- 
istrative district  sharply  delimited  without  much  refer- 
ence to  what  types  of  nationality  composed  its 
population.  Perplexing  in  itself,  this  question  was 
further  complicated  by  that  of  emancipating  Servia 
from  the  economic  tyranny  of  her  neighbors  by  secur- 
ing to  her  commerce  free  access  to  the  Adriatic.  This 
agreement  was  finally,  in  outline  at  least,  substan- 
tially as  follows : 

Albanian  boundaries  were  to  be  fixed  partly  by  the 
ambassadors  themselves  and  partly  by  an  international 
commission  of  inquiry  studying  on  the  spot  the  ethno- 
graphic frontiers.  This  work  has  been  accomplished, 
and  a  suggestion  has  been  made  for  that  portion  of 
their  labors  which  relates  to  the  south  and  south- 
eastern frontier,  where  a  district  of  about  fifteen  thou- 
sand square  miles  is,  according  to  their  proposition, 
to  be  divided  between  Albania  and  Greece.  The  new 
state,  when  delimited  by  surveyors,  will  have  about 
eight  hundred  and  forty  thousand  inhabitants.    Its  area 


244  THE  BALKANS 

under  the  Ottoman  empire,  was  divided  into  thirty-one 
kazas.  or  administrative  districts,  in  ten  of  which  there 
was  no  semblance  of  any  Turkish  control  whatsoever. 
The  wild  clansmen  of  these  last  paid  no  taxes,  regarded 
no  laws,  kept  the  peace  as  they  were  disposed,  and 
practiced  the  vendetta  to  an  extent  more  shocking  than 
anywhere  else  in  the  world.  As  soon  as  the  boun- 
daries were  fixed,  another  international  commission 
was  at  once  established  to  take  over,  temporarily  at 
least,  the  control  of  this  strange  people,  heterogeneous 
in  habits  and  religion,  by  means  of  a  constabulary 
under  officers  chosen  from  some  neutral  power,  as 
Sweden,  Belgium,  or  Holland.  Their  procedure  had, 
of  course,  to  be  determined  by  circumstances,  and  so 
far  their  success  has  been  slight,  the  real  power  in  the 
Albanian  valleys  being  apparently  that  of  Essad-  Yet 
they  hope  to  renew  a  truce  which  is  fondly  believed 
already  to  exist  among  the  tribes ;  to  pay  all  the  blood- 
money  considered  due  by  the  various  parties ;  to  close 
each  tribal  area  to  the  males  of  any  other  tribe  which 
may  at  the  moment  be  "owing  blood" ;  thus  to  termi- 
nate all  existing  feuds,  and  then  to  provide  the  funds 
necessary  for  the  restoration  of  agriculture  and  trade. 
Such  a  system  is  far  from  giving  even  a  complete 
autonomy  to  Albania,  but  it  is  intended  that  when  order 
shall  have  been  restored,  the  great  powers  shall  fix 
upon  his  throne  the  prince  they  have  selected,  promul- 
gate a  constitution,  and  inaugurate  a  government ;  this 
would  provide  a  semi-autonomy  which  is  likely,  con- 
sidering the  feeling  of  the  population,  to  have  a  closer 
relation  to  the  monarchy  at  Constantinople  than  to 
any  other. 

Such  artificial  state-making,  considered  in  itself,  is 
not  an  impressive  spectacle,  but  whatever  the  future 


SIX  POWERS  AND  BALKAN  WARS     245 

has  in  store,  for  the  time  being  at  least,  this  agreement 
and  this  procedure  have  had  the  dignity — yes,  even 
the  glory — of  preserving  the  peace  of  Europe  outside 
the  Balkan  peninsula. 

As  regards  the  yEgean  Islands,  the  situation  is,  in  The  ^gean 
some  respects,  quite  as  perplexing.  Their  inhabitants  Islands 
are  in  overwhelming  majority  Romaic — that  is,  Greek, 
in  the  current  use  of  the  word.  If  the  doctrine  of 
nationality,  which  has  been  proclaimed  from  the  house- 
top until  the  whole  heart  is  sick,  were  to  determine 
their  fate,  they  would,  one  and  all,  be  incorporated 
into  the  kingdom  of  the  Hellenes;  but  some  of  them 
are  the  most  important  strategic  positions  of  the  East, 
commanding,  as  they  do,  the  entrance  to  the  Straits. 
A  Turkey  which  could  not  control  the  Straits  would 
be  an  absurdity.  Others  of  the  islands,  as  we  have 
elsewhere  stated,  are  so  close  to  the  shores  of  Asia 
Minor  that  to  all  intents  and  purposes  they  are  Asiatic, 
and  not  European.  The  possession  of  them  by  another 
power  would  menace  the  existence  of  Turkish  rule  on 
the  mainland.  Certain  of  these  islands,  again,  are  held 
in  pawn  by  the  Italians,  who  seized  them  during  their 
war  with  Turkey,  ostensibly  for  purposes  of  negotia- 
tion, quite  possibly,  however,  under  pressure  from  the 
great  numbers  of  Italians  resident  in  the  Levant,  who 
dreamed  that  somehow  and  at  some  time  Italian  influ- 
ence might  be  restored  where  once  it  was  dominant. 
By  the  treaty  negotiated  at  Lausanne,  between  Turkey 
and  Italy,  these  islands  are  to  be  restored  to  Turkish 
control  as  soon  as  Turkish  military  power  disappears 
from  the  Cyrenaica.  Thus  far,  either  of  set  purpose  or 
for  lack  of  transportation,  the  Cyrenaica  has  not  been 
completely  and  literally  evacuated,  and  consequently 
the  islands  held  by  Italy  have  not  been  restored,  though 


246 


THE  BALKANS 


Dividing  the 
Spoil,  or 
Treaties  of 
London  and 
Bucharest 


Turkey  has  disavowed  and  placed  "hors  cadres"  the 
officers  remaining  in  Tripoli. 

In  spite  of  all  the  difficulties  thus  indicated,  an 
agreement  has  nevertheless  been  reached  among  the 
great  powers.  The  principle  has  been  formulated  and 
solemnly  accepted  that  the  fate  of  all  the  islands,  even 
those  temporarily  occupied  by  Italy,  is  a  matter  not 
of  dual  but  general  international  concern;  that  the 
great  powers  must  settle  the  question  eventually,  and 
that  no  one  of  them  is  to  retain  one  of  these  islands 
for  itself.  This,  although  not  so  momentous  a  con- 
clusion as  that  concerning  Albania,  is  proof  of  good 
faith  and  harmonious  agreement  among  all  the  Six 
Powers.  Time  alone  will  determine  the  strength  of 
this  agreement,  but  for  the  present  the  guardianship 
of  the  islands  and  their  ultimate  disposal  are  the 
affairs  of  the  European  concert.  Justice  is  likely  to 
be  done  in  the  end. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  a  certain  nervousness  still 
exists.  The  treaty  of  London  was  supposed  to  have 
laid  down  the  broad  lines  for  the  distribution  of  the 
huge  territorial  booty  which  the  Balkan  federation 
had  wrested  from  Turkey.  Quite  the  most  important 
of  its  determinations  was  that  of  fixing  the  western 
boundary  of  Turkey  in  Europe;  it  selected  what  was 
known  as  the  Enos-Midia  line.  Within  the  space  of 
a  few  days,  weeks  at  most,  the  federation  was  dis- 
solved, the  parties  to  it  were  engaged  in  desperate 
warfare  with  each  other,  and  Turkey,  which  had  been 
on  the  defensive  behind  the  Chataldja  lines,  was  ad- 
vancing to  the  reconquest  of  her  sacred  city,  Adriano- 
ple.  Rumania  was  invading  Bulgaria  in  order  to 
"correct  her  frontier,"  that  is,  to  secure  some 
compensation  in  the  Balkan  settlement  for  the  gains 


SIX  POWERS  AND  BALKAN  WARS     247 

of  the  three  other  Christian  powers.  Macedonia 
was  again  soaked  with  blood,  and  Thrace  was 
devastated  almost  to  the  extinction  of  her  re- 
sources, by  those  very  powers  who  claimed  to  have 
been  righting  for  the  regeneration  of  both.  Recrim- 
ination is  perfectly  futile;  how  the  treaty  of  London 
came  to  be  violated  is  unimportant.  Hostilities  were 
now  over  and  a  second  treaty,  that  of  Bucharest, 
negotiated  in  August,  was  concluded  among  the 
Balkan  kingdoms',  while  still  a  third  has  been  nego- 
tiated between  Bulgaria  and  Turkey.  The  original 
intentions  expressed  in  the  treaty  of  London  have 
been  largely  set  aside  in  order  that  what  the  Balkan 
powers  consider  best  may  be  the  basis  for  what 
at  most  is  only  an  armed  truce.  Perhaps  it  will 
be  more  enduring  than  one  based  upon  the  treaty  of 
London  or  even  upon  the  treaty  of  Bucharest.  The 
substance  of  the  present  agreement  is  a  shifting  of  the 
Turkish  boundary  to  the  north  and  west  of  the  Enos- 
Midia  line  and  giving  it  such  a  spinal  curvature  that 
it  retains  for  Turkey  Adrianople  and  Kirk-Kilisseh; 
Bulgaria,  which,  in  the  pride  of  conquest,  had  occupied 
and  hoped  to  retain  by  far  the  largest  portion  of  the 
conquered  territory,  is  permitted  to  retain  a  little  tri- 
angle on  the  Black  Sea,  and  an  area  of  about  five 
thousand  square  miles  in  western  Thrace  with  access 
to  the  yEgean.  The  substantive  gains,  gains  of  the 
very  first  importance  in  the  expansion  of  power  and 
territory,  have  been  made  by  Servia  and  Greece.  The 
facility  with  which  in  the  very  latest  negotiations 
Bulgaria  has  yielded  one  by  one  all  the  towns  which 
were  the  scenes  of  her  military  glory  to  Turkish  pre- 
tensions is  a  very  dangerous  symptom  indeed.  Her 
people  are  not  a  prey  to  discouragement,  nor  are  they 


248 


THE  BALKANS 


Nationality 


dazed  by  the  strokes  of  misfortune.  They  abide  the 
hour,  distant  perhaps,  but  sure  to  strike,  when  they 
return  to  the  struggle  not  only  for  national  aggran- 
dizement but  for  revenge. 

The  treaty  of  Bucharest  was  criticized  sharply  and 


in  the  Treaty,    declared  to  be  unworkable  because  it  paid  little  or  no 
or  in  the  attention  to  the  much  vaunted  doctrine  of  nationality. 

Should  the  reader  have  an  opportunity  to  consult  Kie- 
pert's  or  any  good  ethnographic  map  of  the  Balkans, 
he  will  perceive  that  the  distribution  of  so-called 
nationalities  is  such  that  scattered  groups  of  one  lie 
ui)on  a  fairly  solid  background  of  another;  that  the 
lines  of  demarcation,  even  where  they  are  continuous, 
are  so  contorted  as  to  make  anything  like  reasonable 
frontiers  on  that  basis  out  of  the  question  and  impos- 
sible. It  is  my  own  firm  conviction  that  national 
assertiveness,  that  institutional  differences,  even  that 
traditions,  are  almost  entirely  artificial  in  the  Balkans 
and  the  work  of  paid  agents  faithfully  serving  dynas- 
ties or  governments  whose  interest  it  is  to  divide  and 
rule.  The  press  campaigns  of  the  last  few  years  have 
been  very  skillfully  conducted,  and  leave  one  to 
imagine  the  still  greater  skill  with  which  agitations 
on  the  spot  are  carried  on.  It  has  been  reiterated  until 
we  believe  it,  that  the  Christian  population  of  Thrace  is 
almost  entirely  Greek,  and  that  under  Bulgarian  rule 
the  cruelties  have  been  even  more  horrid  than  they 
were  under  Turkish  control.  But  a  letter  has  been 
recently  published  from  a  trustworthy  witness,  riding 
from  town  to  town,  and  from  village  to  village 
throughout  eastern  Thrace  but  westward  of  the  Enos- 
Midia  line.  Most  of  these  villages  are  smoldering 
heaps  of  embers,  the  Turks  having  burned  them  in 
their    retreat.      The    surviving    Christians    he    found 


SIX  POWERS  AND  BALKAN  WARS     249 

assembled  in  Demotika,  Kirk-Kilisseh,  Lule-Burgas, 
Bunar  Hissar,  and  similar  places.  For  the  most  part 
he  lodged  with  Greeks.  He  heard  no  complaints  and 
saw  no  sign  of  ill-treatment.  The  populations — 
Greeks,  Armenians,  Bulgarians,  and  Jews — lived 
peacefully  together  on  the  best  of  terms.  The  Greek 
shopkeepers  charged  exorbitant  prices  for  their  wares, 
but  they  were  honestly  paid  by  the  Bulgarian  troops. 
Racial  and  religious  tolerance  characterized  the  occu- 
pation by  Bulgarians  of  the  country.  There  were 
even  left  behind  a  few  Turks  who  seemed  to  have  no 
cause  whatever  for  complaint. 

The  term  "nationality"  in  the  Balkan  States  is,  as 
there  used,  a  word  almost  meaningless  to  us,  and  the 
word  "ethnographic"  is  scarcely  less  so.  In  earlier 
pages  we  were  at  some  pains  to  describe  the  processes 
of  trituration,  commingling,  and  almost  hydraulic 
pressure,  whereby  the  oldest  nationalities  had  van- 
ished under  Turkish  rule.  At  this  hour  the  most 
patriotic  Greeks  bear  Slavic  names;  but  language,  as 
we  know,  is  no  criterion,  for  the  Bulgars  are  not 
Slavs.  Another  careful  traveler,  a  long  resident  in 
the  Balkans,  published  an  indignant  letter  when  King 
Ferdinand  proclaimed  the  city  of  Monastir  to  be  a 
part  of  unredeemed  Bulgaria.  Basing  his  indignation 
upon  statistics  taken  by  himself,  he  strove  to  show  that 
barely  one  half  of  the  population  were  even  construc- 
tively Bulgarians.  In  another  connection  we  have 
endeavored  to  exhibit  on  the  best  of  testimony  the 
state  of  things  in  Macedonia  as  one  which  renders 
absurd  and  ridiculous  any  claim  throughout  that  land 
to  any  nationality,  except  that  to  the  sorely  degraded 
one  of  Macedonian. 

Every  visitor  to  the  Balkan  States  would  admit  that 


250  THE  BALKANS 

at  the   respective  capitals  and  in  the  districts  which 
surround  them  there  are  sufficient  differences  to  con- 
stitute something  like  a  recognizahle  nationality :  such 
differences  as,  for  instance,  would  be  perfectly  mani- 
fest to  a  traveler,  passing  by  rail  from  Stuttgart  to 
Bern,    between    the    Germans    of    Wurtemberg    and 
Switzerland.     The  German  of  Berlin  is  not  the  Ger- 
man of  Munich,  nor  the  German  of  Munich  the  Ger- 
man of  Stuttgart,  nor  of  Bern;  but  they  are  all  alike 
Germans.     In  the  case  of  the  Bernese,  there  is  a  per- 
fectly manifest  pride  in  a  nationality  which  is  alike 
German,  French,  and  Italian.     In  the  same  way  the 
Alsatian  of  Strassburg,  German  by  blood,  in  language 
and  even,  to  a  high  degree,  in  institutions  and  laws, 
shows  the  effect  of  the  two  centuries  of  French  rule 
and  influence.     Such  considerations,  although  all  com- 
parisons halt,  nevertheless  throw  some  light  upon  the 
distinctions  which  can  be  observed  as  between  Monte- 
negro, Servia,  and  Bulgaria.     Did  there  exist  in  those 
countries  a  large  middle  or  burgher  class,  it  is  quite 
possible  that  the  differences  between  them  in  speech, 
blood,  and  character,  almost  insignificant  as  they  are, 
could  be   further  emphasized   and  enlarged  so  as  to 
create  inchoate  nationalities,  as  we  use  that  word  in 
the  West ;  but  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the  peo- 
ple in  all  three,  wherever  they  reside,  are  peasants ; 
the  patriotism  which   stirs  them  to   frenzy  is   recent 
and  highly  artificial  and,  as  one  of  the  bits  of  testi- 
mony we  have  cited  avers,  when  circumstances  throw 
them  together  under  common  conditions  they  are  con- 
scious of  little  difference  between  themselves,  instinc- 
tively feeling  their  brotherhood  even  with  Greeks  and 
Rumanians  speaking  widely  different  languages. 
Such  confusions  are  the  more  remarkable  because 


SIX  POWERS  AND  BALKAN  WARS     251 

the  climatic  variations  throughout  the  Balkans  are  not 
such  as  easily  transform  race  stocks  and  confound 
them  one  with  the  other.  The  process  of  assimilating 
all  types  of  humanity  goes  on  from  year  to  year  with- 
out rest  or  cessation  within  the  boundaries  of  the 
United  States.  One  reason  is  the  willingness,  even 
eagerness,  with  which  its  population  yield  to  what 
may  be  called  broadly  American  influences.  Exactly 
the  reverse  is  true  in  the  Balkans,  and  the  disuniting 
influences  within  the  Christian  lands  which  were  once 
Turkish  are  strengthened  and  promoted  with  an  iron 
will  and  an  unyielding  purpose,  which  is  the  motive 
power  that  really  underlies  all  the  recent  commotions. 
Whether  these  incipient  states  are  viable  or  not, 
time  alone  can  determine.  As  yet  they  have  all  the 
marks  of  turbulent  youth,  even  of  petulant  childhood : 
their  eruptive  diseases  are  loathsome.  Not  one  of 
them  has  hitherto  exhibited  a  moral  standard  notice- 
ably higher  than  that  of  the  others.  They  have  dis- 
regarded the  treaty  of  London  and  the  treaty  of  Bu- 
charest, and  an  agreement  between  Rumania  and  Bul- 
garia made  at  Saint  Petersburg,  and  their  own  alliance 
under  which  they  fought  side  by  side — disregarded 
them  all  with  an  absence  of  principle  most  dishearten- 
ing and  distressing.  We  confess  to  our  shame  that 
the  higher  civilizations  of  the  West  have  on  many 
occasions  set  them  a  bad  example,  but  bad  example 
is  no  excuse  for  utter  dissoluteness;  especially  when, 
as  is  the  case  with  all  these  peoples,  they  profess  with 
a  fanaticism  unknown  in  Central  and  Western  Europe 
a  form  of  Christianity,  the  precepts  of  which  appar- 
ently make  no  impression  upon  behavior.  Greek 
Christianity,  like  orthodox  Judaism,  is  very  largely 
an  affair  of  ritualism,  and  it  is  greatly  to  be  feared 


252  THE  BALKANS 

that  the  repetitions  of  their  prayer  book,  the  compli- 
cated functions  and  elaborate  crossings,  genuflections, 
and  anointings  are,  as  far  as  public  matters  go, 
utterly  vain. 

My  own  experiences  as  a  traveler,  I  repeat,  were 
mainly  such  as  would  endear  the  unsophisticated 
masses  of  these  countries  to  any  sympathetic  observer 
of  mankind.  The  simple  lives  of  the  peasantry,  their 
plain  living,  their  frank  manners,  their  picturesque 
customs,  their  occupation  in  the  fields,  their  wonder- 
ful fruit  orchards,  and,  in  Bulgaria,  their  boundless 
rose  gardens  which  yield  the  priceless  Attar,  the  sleek 
and  comfortabe  cattle,  the  smiling  valleys — all  this 
combines  into  a  most  pleasing  composite  impression. 
On  the  other  hand,  even  the  slightest  acquaintance 
with  city  life  appears  to  transform  such  folk  into  an 
unrecognizable  product  that  cannot  elsewhere  be  seen. 
There  is  no  organized  society  in  our  sense  of  the  term. 
The  influence  of  woman  is  utterly  insignificant ;  one 
strains  the  vision  to  note  chivalric  manners.  There 
is  a  recklessness  in  many  matters,  both  private  and 
personal,  a  greed  for  place  and  office,  an  aimlessness 
of  walk  and  conversation,  a  lounging  indolence,  a 
friction  and  a  creaking;  the  town  seems  not  a  home 
but,  in  short,  a  perplexing  melting-pot  of  unbridled 
human  passion.  You  felt  that  nothing  but  war  was 
needed  to  exhibit  on  the  great  stage  of  the  world  the 
barbaric,  unripe  genius  of  people  playing  a  role  to 
which  they  were  not  trained.  It  is  a  sad  business, 
setting  a  boy  to  do  a  man's  work:  and  correct  modern 
warfare  is  the  work,  sorry  and  sad  to  be  sure,  but 
the  work  of  men  who  are  not  in  a  state  of  pupilage, 
not  amateurs,  but  professionals  and  expert. 

From  what  we  have  said  it  seems  to  be  manifest 


SIX  POWERS  AND  BALKAN  WARS     253 

that  of  public  opinion  in  the  ordinary  sense  there  is  Public 
little  or  none  in  any  of  the  Balkan  States,  with  per-   Opinion  as  to 
haps  the  possible  exception  of  Greece,  where,  in  con-  Situation 
nection  with   the   so-called   military   revolution  men- 
tioned above,  there  was  a  very  fine  exhibition  indeed 
of  a  sane  and  safe  public  opinion.    Even  in  the  West- 
ern world  it  is  not  easy  to  find  the  seat  of  public 
opinion.     The  advanced  democracy  of  the  globe  has 
made  such  an  effort  extremely  difficult,  but  it  is  not 
uninteresting  to  summarize,   as   far  as   possible,   the 
questions  which,  as  far  as  the  nations  are  at  all  inter- 
ested in  the  Balkan  question,  are  discussed  more  or 
less  on  the  street  and  in  the  newspapers. 

The  government  organs  of  Russia  have  throughout  Russia 
exhibited  a  rather  unusual  restraint  in  their  utterances. 
We  are  left  in  doubt  whether  there  is  any  definite 
opinion  at  Saint  Petersburg  as  to  whether  Russia  has 
gained  or  lost  in  prestige  and  moral  power  by  the 
temporary  settlement  as  far  as  it  has  been  reached. 
Her  special  proteges  were  Bulgaria  and  Montenegro; 
although,  of  course,  she  feels  herself  in  a  very  high 
sense  the  patron  and  protector  of  the  Greek  Church 
in  general,  and  of  its  Slavic  members  in  particular. 
Montenegro  has  made  very  trifling  gains  in  the  settle- 
ment and  feels  herself  profoundly  humiliated  because 
compelled  to  abandon  Scutari  and  look  on  while  it 
becomes  the  capital  city  of  a  people  naturally  hostile, 
and  that,  too,  at  a  distance  of  only  a  few  miles  on 
the  great  inland  lake  which  she  had  proposed  to  make 
entirely  her  own,  as  it  already  is  in  part.  Bulgaria 
feels  herself  in  a  position  of  intolerable  humiliation, 
and  whatever  may  have  been  the  relations  between 
Sophia  and  Saint  Petersburg,  Rumania  appears  to 
have  established  more  advantageous  ones,  securing,  as 


254  THE  BALKANS 

she  has,  a  substantial  and  valuable  addition  to  her 
territories  apparently  with  Russia's  assent.  Then, 
furthermore,  there  is  a  curious  crossing  of  purposes 
between  Paris  and  Saint  Petersburg,  firm  allies  as 
France  and  Russia  are.  In  pretension  to  Byzantine 
leadership,  Greece  is  the  avowed  rival  of  Russia,  yet 
nevertheless  the  moral  support  of  France  throughout 
the  struggle  has  been  given  to  Greece  and  in  the  felici- 
tations over  the  event  of  the  war,  the  newspapers  of 
Athens  and  of  Paris  have  vied  with  each  other  in 
such  compliments  and  mutual  congratulations  as  are 
familiar  and  usual  in  the  intercourse  of  Mediterranean 
peoples.  Exactly  how  much  they  mean  is  difficult  for 
others  to  understand. 
Austria-  Iteration  and  reiteration  are  necessary  to  enforce 

Hungary  at  a  distance  the  fact  of  extreme  tension  all  along  the 

frontier  line  between  Slavs  and  Germans.  Even  the 
avowed  pacifist  would  be  considerate  and  thoughtful 
if  he  realized  that  Germany  and  the  German  peoples 
in  the  widest  sense  believe  themselves  engaged  in  a 
never-ending  struggle  for  the  supremacy  of  a  higher 
over  a  lower  civilization.  The  German  empire  is  on 
the  whole  so  loyal  to  its  various  state  governments,  so 
intelligent  in  its  apprehension  of  historical  problems, 
and  so  enormously  powerful  in  its  armaments  that  its 
feeling  in  regard  to  its  eastern  neighbor  is,  though 
somewhat  apprehensive,  generally  one  of  calm  assur- 
ance. The  case  is  far  otherwise  with  the  dual  mon- 
archy of  Austria-Hungary.  Its  only  bond  of  union 
is  the  staunch  loyalty  of  strangely  divergent  peoples 
to  the  house  of  Hapsburg.  In  order  that  this  personal 
union  may  find  some  outward  expression  and  create 
political  efficiency,  the  Hapsburg  monarchy  has 
already  become,  what  its  style  indicates,  dual.     The 


SIX  POWERS  AND  BALKAN  WARS     255 

emperor  of  Austria  is  the  king  of  Hungary,  and  the 
relations  of  these  two   otherwise  independent  states 
are  minimized  almost  to  the  point  of  breaking.     The 
figures  of  the  Slavic  populations  in  this  dual  monarchy 
have  elsewhere  been  given.    They  are  proportionately 
so  large  that  an  imperious  demand  is  now  heard  for 
a  federate  Slavic  monarchy  within  the  limits  of  the 
existing  monarchy,  at  least  as  independent  and  auton- 
omous as  the  Hungarian — united  with  Austria  and 
Hungary  only  by  a  common  sovereign  and  a  common 
control  of  finance  and  military  service  in  so  far  as 
they    affect    foreign    relations.     These    Austro-Hun- 
garian  Slavs,  especially  in  Croatia  and  Dalmatia,  have 
shown  a  very  disturbing  sympathy  with  the  aspirations 
of  Servia.     The  reigning  house  of  the  monarchy  is 
German.    The  most  populous  city,  Vienna,  is  German. 
The  powerful  aristocracy  which  is  the  bulwark  of  the 
Hapsburg  throne  is  in  the  main  German,  although  the 
magnates  of  Hungary  are  not  one  whit  less  loyal,  nor 
inferior    in    wealth    to    those    of    German    Austria. 
Whether  or  not  the  German  power  in  the  monarchy 
can  maintain  itself  is  a  very  serious  question.     For 
long   periods   paramount   and    haughty,   it   has   been 
humiliated  at  least  into  an  equality  with  that  of  the 
other  elements,  and  many  think  its  force  is  steadily 
diminishing.       Within     their    own     boundaries     the 
Austro-German    men    of    power    and    influence    are 
strangely  reticent.     Without  them,  in  traveling,  they 
express  without  reserve  a  sense  of  the  most  profound 
discouragement.     It   is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that 
millions    of   German   Austrians   desire   incorporation 
with  the  German  empire. 

Were  it  not  for  the  moral  support  of  Germany, 
Austria-Hungary  would  be  forced  to  play  a  very  in- 


256  THE  BALKANS 

ferior  role  in  the  affairs  of  the  Hither  East.  With  it. 
she  has  made  a  bold  stand,  exhibited  a  brave  front, 
and  secured  enough  throughout  the  conduct  of  the 
war  to  save  her  face  and  enhance  somewhat  her  pres- 
tige. The  relations  of  the  dual  monarchy  with  the 
German  empire  were  for  a  time  less  warm  than  usual, 
even  chilly.  The  Austro-Hungarians  expected 
stronger  support  in  their  Adriatic  politics.  But  the 
friendship  has  again  improved,  as  the  results  grow 
more  discernible.  Albania  has  been  created,  Dalmatian 
and  Croatian  discontents  have  been  suppressed,  and  the 
Slavic  movement  generally  appears  to  have  made  losses 
rather  than  gains,  especially  since  the  finest  branch  of 
the  Slav  Austrians,  the  Bohemians,  have  made  such 
sorry  work  of  the  finances  intrusted  to  their  charge, 
and  have  bankrupted  their  so-called  kingdom  in  part, 
and  its  great  capital  of  Prague  almost  completely. 
Servia  Whence  has  come  the  moral  and  financial  support 

of  Servia  remains  mysterious.  Of  all  the  Slavic  peo- 
ples the  Servians  have  so  far  been  personally  and 
publicly  the  most  improvident.  Servian  banking  is 
little  more  than  pawnbroking.  There  has  recently 
been  published  by  a  Frenchman,  resident  for  many 
years  in  Servia  and  conversant  with  Servian  affairs 
from  long  participation  in  them,  a  very  valuable  study, 
one  item  of  which  throws  a  strange  light  upon  the 
recklessness  of  the  people.  It  has  degenerated,  as  far 
as  the  government  is  concerned,  largely  into  a  police 
state.  The  Servian  burgher  finds  his  chief  occupation, 
therefore,  not  in  politics,  not  in  commercial  and  in- 
dustrial enterprises  of  stability,  but  in  discounting  the 
future.  The  writer  gives  the  single  instance  of  a  bank 
in  the  important  city  of  Nisch  which  was  founded 
some  five  years  ago  by  two  partners  with  a  capital  of 


SIX  POWERS  AND  BALKAN  WARS    257 

six  hundred  dollars.  With  that  security  they  bor- 
rowed about  half  as  much  more  and  opened  their 
doors  to  lend  money  at  twelve  per  cent  discount.  They 
soon  capitalized  the  institution  at  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars.  Of  these  shares  half  are  retained  in  the 
treasury  and  half  have  been  bought  by  the  public. 
The  bank  owns  a  handsome  countinghouse,  and  its 
business  expands  by  leaps  and  bounds.  Every  bor- 
rower that  has  desired  a  loan  of  one  hundred  dollars 
gave  his  note,  properly  indorsed  by  some  friend,  as 
security.  He  then  received  seventy  dollars  in  cash 
and  thirty  dollars  in  stock,  the  par  value  of  the  shares 
being  ten  dollars.  As  our  author  remarks,  this  is  far 
from  a  solitary  instance;  the  passion  for  borrowing 
is  a  cancer  which  slowly  eats  out  the  vitals  of  the 
Servian  organism.  These  and  similar  charges  have 
never  been  denied,  and  with  such  a  temper  and  such 
slack  habits  of  finance  it  is  quite  possible  that  some 
portion  of  the  national  loans  were  easily  negotiated 
among  Servians  themselves.  But  even  if  this  were 
so,  what  could  be  so  raised  would  be  utterly  insuffi- 
cient, and  there  must  have  been  a  system  of  borrow- 
ing in  other  lands  which  has  not  been  generally  known 
to  the  public.  Every  wild  guess  has  been  made:  that 
there  was  actually  a  secret  understanding  between 
the  bankers  of  Constantinople  and  Belgrade,  that  the 
ever-vigilant  Russia  secretly  provided  funds,  that  am- 
munition and  guns  were  secured  on  credit — in  short, 
nothing  seems  too  monstrous  for  the  gullibility  of  yel- 
low journalism.  The  plain  fact  is  that  we  know  noth- 
ing and  can  express  only  amazement  at  Servia's 
achievements.  Long  hence  it  will  doubtless  appear 
that  Turkey  and  the  Young  Turks  were  diplomatically 
fishing  in  troubled  waters  from  beginning  to  end  at 


258  THE  BALKANS 

Belgrade,  as  well  as  in  other  Balkan  capitals,  eating 
the  bread  of  humility  secretly  in  their  desperate  efforts 
to  retain  the  semblance  of  the  Turkish  empire.  Even 
superficial  observers  suspect  that  these  struggles  pro- 
duced some  effect  in  Rumania. 

Whoever  was  the  backer  of  Servia,  it  assuredly  was 
no  one  hostile  to  Austria-Hungary.  The  western 
frontier  of  Servia  has  not  advanced  an  inch  and  it  is 
even  yet  uncertain  how  she  is  to  be  given  the  promised 
commercial  access  to  the  Adriatic.  That  important 
portion  of  the  Mediterranean  is  still  controlled  by 
Austria-Hungary  and  Italy.  Italy  too,  as  we  recall, 
still  occupies  the  islands  in  the  y£gean,  which  she  has 
held  as  a  guarantee  for  the  treaty  of  Lausanne. 

Italy  This,  of  course,  gives  Italy  an  advantageous  posi- 

tion from  which  to  negotiate,  especially  if  the  border 
skirmishes  between  Servia  and  Albania  develop  into 
more  important  warfare;  or  even  if  Servia,  stimulated 
by  Turkey's  successful  recalcitrancy,  should  attempt 
to  secure  a  boundary  including  certain  small  districts 
it  claimed  alike  at  London  and  at  Bucharest,  but  which 
were  not  yielded  to  her.  In  the  general  belligerency 
of  the  last  years  Italy  has  gained  much.  It  is  not 
merely  that  she  has  secured  a  substantial  portion  of 
the  north  African  shore  lands.  She  has  consolidated 
her  nationality  and  exhibited  its  power  in  such  a  way 
as  to  command  respect  from  the  other  five  great 
powers. 

Germany  The  German  empire  has  seized  the  occasion  enor- 

mously to  strengthen  its  military  forces  by  land  and 
sea.  Probably  the  whole  world  better  understands 
this  policy  in  consequence  of  the  Balkan  wars;  cer- 
tainly Germany  herself  has  secured  a  clear  vision  of 
the  fact  that  the  most  serious  menace  to  her  civiliza- 


SIX  POWERS  AND  BALKAN  WARS     259 

tion  lies  along  her  eastern  frontier.  Not  that  she  is 
warlike  in  the  sense  of  seeking  a  quarrel.  The  great 
warlord  has  proven  himself  for  twenty-five  years  to 
be  the  great  peacelord  of  the  European  world.  It  is 
not  the  tradition  of  the  Hohenzollerns  to  expand  for 
the  sake  of  expansion,  but  it  has  been  throughout  the 
long  and  not  entirely  inglorious  history  of  the  family 
their  unbroken  effort  to  consolidate  German  lands  and 
German  populations  for  German  welfare;  to  defend 
what  has  been  won ;  to  create  a  majestic  organism ;  and 
to  assert  the  place  of  Germany  among  the  great  re- 
ciprocal forces,  the  powerful  interacting  influences  of 
the  modern  world.  We  have  no  reason  to  believe  that 
there  has  been  any  change  in  this  impressive  policy. 
This  seems  more  probable  in  proportion  as  the  bar- 
baric and  atrocious  excesses  of  Slavs  have  exposed 
in  glaring  exactness  not  so  much  what  they  desire  the 
warfare  to  be  in  which  they  engage,  as  what  with 
their  temperament  and  nature  it  necessarily  must  be. 
The  German  empire  has  been  absolutely  loyal  to  the 
self-denying  ordinance  passed  when  the  representa- 
tives of  the  Six  Powers  first  met  at  London. 

If  Germany  was,  as  she  was,  well  aware  that  her  France 
resources  must  be  husbanded  as  a  bulwark  against 
uncertain  conditions  and  impending  menace  to  the 
eastward,  France,  with  the  brilliant  galaxy  of  states- 
men now  controlling  her  destinies,  was  equally  im- 
pressed with  her  own  enormous  task  in  reducing  Mo- 
rocco to  even  partial  subjection  and  consolidating  a 
colonial  empire  which,  in  the  forty-odd  years  since 
the  Franco-Prussian  War,  has  become  so  vast  as  to 
be  unwieldy,  being  a  source  of  enormous  expense  to 
the  home  government  and  producing,  at  least  as  yet, 
scanty  returns  for  the  national  treasury.    She,  too,  has 


260  THE  BALKANS 

been  entirely  loyal  to  her  earliest  engagements;  but, 
believing  herself  by  tradition  and  sympathy  deeply 
concerned  in  the  progress  of  Greece,  she  has  not 
hesitated  to  cheer  on  that  nation,  to  rejoice  in  its 
victories  and  to  take  great  satisfaction  in  the  evidences 
of  self-restrained  power  which  it  has  furnished  to  the 
world. 
Great  Britain  But,     after    all,     the    most    majestic    organization 

throughout  the  events  we  are  considering  has  been  that 
of  Great  Britain.  It  was  the  host  of  the  ambassadors' 
conference,  and  likewise  of  the  Balkan  plenipoten- 
tiaries; and  it  was  fortunate  in  having  as  foreign 
minister  Sir  Edward  Grey,  a  man  of  sound  under- 
standing, of  strong  convictions,  of  thorough  knowl- 
edge, of  versatile  capacity,  who,  throughout  his 
guidance  of  those  difficult  negotiations  carried  on  in 
London,  enjoyed  not  only  the  undivided  support  of  his 
own  party,  but  also  a  generous  abstinence  from  ob- 
struction on  the  part  of  the  Conservatives.  It  may 
be  said  that  he  commanded  the  confidence  and  had  the 
backing  of  the  British  nation  and  empire  undivided; 
and  that  likewise  in  a  high  degree  his  was  the  leading 
part  in  the  councils  of  all  Europe.  The  England 
which  gave  him  unstinted  approval  was  not  the  Eng- 
land which  in  1878  had  seized  Cyprus  and  occupied 
Egypt.  There  was  no  thought  of  territorial  aggran- 
dizement at  the  expense  of  any  other  people.  For 
that  reason  the  utterances  of  the  government  at  West- 
minster were  doubly  weighty.  They  have  been 
characterized  by  the  confidence  and  sobriety  which 
arise  only  from  fixed  determinations  and  readiness 
for  action.  This  accounts  for  the  ever-growing  influ- 
ence of  the  British  ambassador  at  Constantinople,  for 
the   rather  strange  but  admirable  attitude   of   Berlin 


SIX  POWERS  AND  BALKAN  WARS     261 

which  put  an  advanced  German  liberal,  Prince  Licht- 
nowsky,  as  successor  to  Marshall  von  Bieberstein  at 
the  Court  of  Saint  James,  and  indicated  a  willingness 
for  cooperation  that  must  be  considered  magnanimous 
in  view  of  the  dazed  and  almost  hypnotic  suspicions 
which  the  British  had  so  long  entertained  regarding 
German  policy. 

Great  weight,  therefore,  may  be  placed  upon  the 
declarations  of  Sir  Edward  Grey.  His  voice  may  be 
considered  almost,  if  not  entirely,  to  express  Euro- 
pean sentiment.  In  order,  therefore,  to  grasp  the 
effects  of  the  Balkan  wars  upon  Europe  at  large,  we 
may  safely  rely  upon  some  of  his  most  important 
authoritative  and  official  public  statements.  In  no  un- 
certain tones  he  utters  a  solemn  warning  to  Turkey 
in  which  he  says,  "That  her  failure  to  accept  the 
advice  of  the  Powers  as  regards  her  western  frontier 
is  almost  sure  to  bring  on  the  Turkish  government 
disastrous  consequences,  either  in  the  shape  of  financial 
distress  or  of  armed  intervention  from  which  no  one 
can  defend  her."  The  one  essential  feature  of  her 
new  western  boundary  must  be,  he  declared,  that  the 
line  should  possess  strategic  strength.1 

As  to  Mohammedan  powers  in  general,  Great  Brit- 
ain will  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  assume  for  itself 
the  assurance  that  the  "rational  sentiments  and  reli- 
gious feelings  of  Mohammedan  subjects  within  her 
dominions  shall  be  respected  and  have  full  scope." 
As  a  corollary  to  this,  Great  Britain  can  be  neither 
intolerant  nor  aggressive  regarding  any  Mussulman 
power.  "But  under  no  circumstances  could  we  pro- 
tect Mohammedan  powers,  as  such,  from  the  conse- 
quences of  their  own  behavior."     "To  suppose  that 

'The  delimitation  as  arranged  at  Constantinople  appears  exactly  the  opposite. 


262  THE  BALKANS 

we  can  undertake  the  protection  of,  and  are  bound  to 
regulate  our  European  policy  so  as  to  side  with  a 
Mussulman  power  when  that  Mussulman  power  re- 
jects the  advice  given  to  it — that  is  not  a  claim  which 
we  can  admit." 

As  to  the  question  of  intervention,  he  has  on  several 
occasions  made  the  very  trenchant  remark  that  any 
other  than  armed  intervention  would  be  impossible, 
and  that  to  go  to  war  for  the  sake  of  preventing  war 
is  an  absurdity  and  a  contradiction  in  terms. 
Will  Wild  All  these  are  brief  and  weighty  utterances,  yet  they 

Europe  Hear  have  not  entirely  dispelled  nervousness  or  distrust, 
and  Heed?  Procrastination  is  the  essential  vice  of  the  Orient. 
The  lapse  of  time  creates  new  interests  and  new  cur- 
rents of  feeling.  Wild  Europe  has  long  heard  the 
admonition  of  civilized  Europe  given  with  great  show 
of  importance  and  empty  emphasis  to  Turkey. 
Throughout  generations  these  instructions  have  been 
utterly  disregarded  and  secretly  ridiculed.  When, 
now,  the  admonitions  of  the  great  powers  are  ad- 
dressed no  longer  to  Mohammedans,  but  to  professing 
Christians,  the  question  naturally  rises.  Do  they 
signify  anything  more  than  before?  Already  the  new 
masters  of  the  Balkan  peninsula  have  given  an  ex- 
ample of  their  intolerance  and  fanaticism  in  the  treat- 
ment of  western  missionaries  at  Avlona.  America 
is  faraway,  as  distance  is  reckoned,  from  all  the  scenes 
of  Balkan  horrors.  American  travelers  are  for  the 
most  part  utterly  ignorant  of  the  language,  institu- 
tions, and  temper  of  the  Balkan  peoples.  We  have 
not,  therefore,  from  lack  of  data,  profoundly  consid- 
ered hitherto  the  effect  upon  American  interests,  either 
religious,  industrial,  or  commercial,  of  the  expulsion 
of  the  Turks  and  the  annihilation  of  Turkish  rule  in 


SIX  POWERS  AND  BALKAN  WARS    263 

those  parts  of  the  world,  but,  dispassionately  consid- 
ered, every  one  of  them  is  more  endangered  every 
hour. 

Peering  into  the  future  through  the  smoke  of  in- 
cendiarism, with  senses  blunted  by  the  cries  of  the 
helpless,  the  moans  of  the  wounded,  and  the  awful 
sights  of  mutilated  corpses,  of  crippled  and  disfigured 
survivors,  the  man  would  be  rash  indeed  who  would 
venture  upon  prediction.  Yet  America  has  long  had 
peace  upon  her  own  frontiers;  her  experiences  were 
for  a  generation  utterly  foreign  to  any  like  those 
which  have  molested  the  safety  and  health,  moral  or 
physical,  of  European  nations.  But  with  the  Spanish 
War  all  was  changed.  While  comparisons  are  dan- 
gerous, yet,  judging  from  that  conflict,  and  from  the 
history  of  Mexico,  there  appears  to  be  probable  and 
possible  for  the  western  powers  of  Europe  only  one 
final  outcome  in  the  Balkan  States ;  perhaps  also 
for  us,  in  the  settlement  of  intolerable  conditions  be- 
tween our  frontier  and  the  canal  strip.  Already  we 
have  seen  in  those  lands  what  began  as  an  ordered 
warfare  degenerate  into  brutal,  reckless,  and  guerilla 
conflicts.  We  have  seen  a  war  of  enfranchisement 
quickly  transformed  into  a  war  of  conquest,  and  then 
into  a  struggle  without  quarter,  a  conflict  of  life  and 
death  for  the  extermination  of  one  and  measurably 
both  combatants.  We  have  seen  lands,  already  rav- 
aged, devastated,  and  delivered  to  a  desert  solitude, 
plowed  once  more  with  bullets  and  bayonets  and  har- 
rowed by  the  small  arms  of  ghoulish  banditti.  We 
have  seen  great  districts  abandoned  and  their  few 
surviving  inhabitants  huddled  in  squalor  and  famine 
behind  the  fortifications  thrown  up  to  defend  towns. 
Finally,  we  have  seen  the  barbarous  perpetrators  of 


264  THE  BALKANS 

all  these  outrages  frankly  and  shamelessly  confessing 
the  misery,  the  famine,  the  hunger,  and  the  thirst 
among  their  victims,  those  who  were  weak  and  help- 
less to  combat  the  vain  ambitions  and  mad  passions 
of  their  leaders.  On  the  other  hand  we  have  seen 
malefactors  high  in  place  denying  their  deeds  and 
holding  out  their  hands  with  prayers  for  assistance 
to  alleviate  the  misery  they  have  wrought.  All  our 
hearts  are  wrung  and  our  purses  will  be  opened  and 
our  charities  will  be  abundant,  but  whatever  can  be 
done  in  this  way  can  be  but  temporary.  In  the  long 
run,  there  as  here,  it  seems  as  if  nothing  short  of  abso- 
lue  exhaustion,  an  exhaustion  which  is  not  far  distant, 
could  secure  a  remedy  of  any  efficiency  for  such  shock- 
ing social  diseases.  Hat  in  hand,  the  wild  peoples  of 
both  Europe  and  America  will  have  to  make  a  piteous 
plea  for  peaceful  intervention.  Utterly  incapable  of 
self-restraint  and  of  self-government,  they  will  have 
to  ask  for  the  restoration  of  order  under  foreign  lead- 
ers ;  for  a  well-organized  constabulary  under  officers 
who  can  command  obedience  and  exercise  some  degree 
of  control  until  the  rod  of  correction  has  done  its  work 
and  made  the  memory  of  punishment  a  wholesome, 
permanent  preventive  for  passionate  excess. 
Islam  in  the  According  to  the  latest  authorities,  there  are  still 

Balkans  left  in  the  Balkans  two  million  Moslems,  of  whom  it 

is  reckoned  that  at  least  a  million  are  Turks.  Had 
Bulgaria  been  able  to  make  good  her  earliest  claims, 
there  would  have  been  within  her  boundary  about 
one  half  a  million  of  these  ''aliens."  The  principal 
city  of  Bosnia  is  Sarayevo.  At  the  present  hour 
it  is  a  curious  conglomeration  of  a  modern  and 
somewhat  impressive  German  city  along  with  a 
half-regenerated    Turkish    town.     There    are    impor- 


SIX  POWERS  AND  BALKAN  WARS     265 

tant  Roman  Catholic  churches,  a  very  stately  Greek 
church,  and  a  number  of  mosques,  one  of  which,  the 
Husref-Bey,  is  large  and  impressive,  dating  from  the 
sixteenth  century.  It  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty 
that  I  got  into  anything  like  friendly  relations  with 
its  chief  administrator,  who  suspected  that,  after  all 
asseverations  to  the  contrary,  his  visitor  was  but  an 
Austrian  emissary.  Some  pertinacity,  and  the  exhibi- 
tion of  a  slight  familiarity  with  the  Koran,  finally, 
however,  rendered  him  communicative.  He  said  that 
the  Moslems  of  Bosnia  were,  on  the  whole,  fairly  con- 
tent ;  that  their  institutions,  religious  life,  and  traditions 
received  kindly  consideration  from  the  Austrian 
authorities.  It  may  be  well  to  interject  here  that  the  one- 
time Turkish  provinces  of  the  Herzegovina  and  Bosnia 
are  a  joint  possession,  belonging  neither  to  Hungary 
nor  to  Austria,  but  administered  from  Vienna  in  the  in- 
terests of  both — an  undivided  imperial  domain  of  the 
Austro-Hungarian  monarchy.  Under  the  tolerant 
rule  which  they  enjoy,  these  Slavic  Mohammedans 
have  a  local  government,  liberty  of  the  press  and  of 
speech,  fair  representation,  and  make  no  complaints 
of  undue  restriction  or  persecution  of  any  form. 
Their  kindly  treatment  by  Austria-Hungary  is,  of 
course,  well  known  to  all  Moslems  in  Europe,  and 
probably  for  that  reason  those  who  live  within  the 
boundaries  of  the  native  Christian  states  expect  in 
the  final  settlement  a  "modus  vivendi"  for  themselves 
similar  to  that  which  their  coreligionists  enjoy  in  the 
districts  already  under  Christian  rule.  Montenegro 
likewise  practices  a  broad  and  kindly  tolerance  in  deal- 
ing with  her  few  Albanian  subjects  of  the  Moham- 
medan faith. 

There   is   nothing   about   which    Europeans   differ 


266  THE  BALKANS 

more  than  about  the  character  of  the  comparatively 
few  Turks  still  remaining  to  the  west  of  the  Bos- 
porus and  the  Straits.  Many  indulge  in  unmeas- 
ured encomiums,  while  others  find  no  language  in 
which  to  describe  their  backwardness  and  worthless- 
ness.  Apparently,  this  is  due  to  two  causes :  first,  the 
degree  in  which  the  so-called  Turks  of  certain  locali- 
ties have  intermingled  with  Christians  and  the  charac- 
ter of  the  Christians  with  whom  they  have  inter- 
mingled ;  in  the  second  place,  to  the  temperament  and 
disposition  of  the  observer.  Probably  the  numbers 
of  really  pure  Turks  now  in  existence  might  be  meas- 
ured in  terms  of  five  figures ;  the  rest  are  the  descend- 
ants of  men  who  carried  away  as  captives  great  num- 
bers— some  think  millions — of  Christian  women,  who, 
immured  in  harems,  were  the  mothers  of  vast  numbers 
who  consider  themselves  Turks  and  possess  the  Turk- 
ish type.  The  many  Christian  families  which,  male  and 
female,  became  Moslems  in  order  to  escape  the  devas- 
tations of  the  Turkish  soldiery  centuries  ago,  inter- 
married, moreover,  with  the  conquering  hordes.  The 
result  of  these  admixtures  of  Christian  blood  is  by 
many  believed  to  have  a  determinative  character  in 
the  various  types  of  Turks  found  in  different  places. 
An  eyewitness  in  the  valley  of  Asia  Minor  watered 
by  the  river  Pactolus,  has  assured  me  that  the  thou- 
sands of  fugitives  from  Europe  taking  refuge  in  that 
district  are  people  of  a  deliglvtful  character,  indus- 
trious, thrifty,  responsive  to  kind  treatment  and  to 
discipline;  the  horrible  mutilations  inflicted  upon  them 
by  the  soldiery  of  the  Christian  powers  in  Europe 
they  endure  with  patience  and  fortitude.  By  their 
frank,  pleasant,  democratic  spirit  of  mutual  self-help 
they    recommend    themselves    most    highly    to    Euro- 


SIX  POWERS  AND  BALKAN  WARS     267 

peans.  They  are  excellent  excavators  in  the  splendid 
American  enterprise  at  Sardis,  they  are  indispensable 
in  the  harvest  fields,  they  are  fond  of  their  little  gar- 
dens, of  running  waters,  of  nature  in  her  gentle 
moods,  and  even  of  poetry.  Among  them  Professor 
Littmann,  of  Strassburg,  a  most  distinguished  Ger- 
man Orientalist,  has  discovered  a  considerable  pro- 
portion who  speak  a  Turkish  language  fairly  pure, 
and  who  are  sufficiently  intelligent  to  give  thrilling 
accounts  of  their  sufferings  at  the  hands  of  komitadjis 
in  Thrace  and  Macedonia. 

The  descriptions  already  given  of  Turkish  settle-  Islam  in  Asia 
ments  in  Europe  apply  with  double  force  to  their 
towns  and  homes  in  Asia.  The  houses,  for  the  most 
part  frame,  covered  and  lined  with  wood,  are  kept  in 
no  repair.  The  streets  reek  with  filth.  The  only 
scavengers  are  the  half -wild  dogs  who,  because  of 
their  usefulness,  enjoy  a  strange  immunity  and 
license.  The  bazaars  deal  in  such  wares  as  would  com- 
mend themselves  to  only  the  humblest  dwellers  in  West- 
ern cities — cheap  fabrics,  worthless  knickknacks,  and 
a  few  commodities  for  the  support  of  life.  There  is 
some  exhibition  from  time  to  time,  and  spasmodically, 
of  energy  and  enterprise,  but  it  is  shown  almost 
entirely  by  Greeks  and  Jews,  or  a  few  European 
Slavs.  Their  agriculture  is  in  a  deplorable  state  of 
backwardness,  their  forests  have  been  so  ravaged 
that  the  rainfall  is  untrustworthy  and  their  water 
supply  for  the  raising  of  stock  or  for  irrigation 
insufficient. 

There  are  a  few  railway  lines  in  Asia  Minor — one, 
owned  by  Germans,  running  from  Scutari,  opposite 
Constantinople,  on  to  Konia  (the  ancient  Iconium), 
which  is  in  the  process  of  extension  to  Bagdad  and 


268  THE  BALKANS 

possibly  further.  From  one  of  its  stations,  about 
half  way  on  the  total  length  of  the  line,  there  starts 
a  branch,  built  and  controlled  by  the  French,  which 
runs  to  Smyrna.  There  is  also  a  railway  from  Mag- 
nesia to  Pandora,  on  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  and  finally 
the  English  have  built  and  manage  a  line  eastward 
from  Smyrna  through  Ephesus,  which  will  eventually 
connect  with  the  German  system.  The  best  authori- 
ties affirm  that  these  railways  have  in  no  way  changed 
the  character  of  the  districts  through  which  they  run; 
that  there  is  no  revival  of  enterprise  or  trade  and  no 
increase  of  population  in  consequence  of  them.  The 
manufacture  of  opium  has  come  almost  to  a  standstill 
because  of  the  restrictions  upon  its  sale.  As  is  well 
known,  considerable  numbers  of  Turks,  Syrians,  and 
Asiatic  Greeks  have  emigrated  to  the  United  States 
in  recent  years.  A  small  proportion  of  them  have 
returned  to  their  native  seats  and  exhibit  on  their  own 
shores  in  Asia,  in  some  slight  degree,  the  enterprise 
which  they  have  had  awakened  here.  American  mis- 
sion stations  are  scattered  here  and  there  and  make 
some  headway  against  the  dullness,  apathy,  and  igno- 
rance of  the  populations  round  about. 

The  purpose  of  such  remarks  about  Asia  Minor  is 
to  indicate  why  the  Turkish  armies,  about  which  much 
has  been  said,  proved  the  broken  reed  which  they 
were  and  are.  Because  of  the  character  of  those  who 
were  drafted  into  their  ranks  they  had  no  endurance. 
Quite  contrary  to  the  facts  is  the  widespread  error 
which  imagines  the  existence  of  Turkish  populations 
in  Asia  from  which  efficient  recruits  can  be  drawn. 
There  is  no  source  of  supply  among  the  Turks  in 
Asia  from  which  the  armies  fighting  about  Constanti- 
nople and  along  the  Thracian  or  Macedonian  coasts 


SIX  POWERS  AND  BALKAN  WARS     269 

can  be  adequately  recruited.  The  Turkish  empire,  as 
it  will  be  in  fact,  may  be  an  empire  maintained  by 
European  diplomacy.  But  shorn  of  its  European  pos- 
sessions, it  will  be  a  rickety  structure,  destitute  of 
the  props  and  stays  upon  which  it  has  hitherto  rested ; 
capable  of  regeneration  only  by  administration 
through  gendarmerie  and  constabulary  composed  per- 
haps of  natives  but  officered  and  disciplined  by  trained 
soldiers  from  Western  lands. 

Something  has  already  been  said  about  the  spirit 
of  absolute  equality  which  permeates  Mohamme- 
danism, about  the  entire  absence  of  rank  and  caste 
in  worship,  society,  or  trade.  Not  only  is  this 
characteristic  of  the  cult  itself,  and  of  all  who 
devoutly  practice  it,  but  it  is  especially  and  pecul- 
iarly a  Turkish  quality.  Even  when  the  rank  and  file 
of  the  Turkish  army  submitted  to  discipline  and  suf- 
fered itself  to  be  drilled  and  trained,  when  there  was 
a  semblance  of  organization  and  fighting  spirit,  there 
were  no  fixed  distinctions  of  rank  between  officers  and 
men.  The  officers  were  exactly  like  the  men  them- 
selves; they  commanded  obedience  only  because  of 
expediency,  much  as  the  preachers  and  administrators 
of  the  mosques  secure  a  semblance  of  order  and  enjoy 
some  respect  because  of  their  native  ability.  It  is 
credibly  said  that  during  the  recent  wars  the  Turks 
confronting  the  Hellenic  troops  had  no  conception  of 
how  to  handle  the  splendid  cannons,  guns,  and  war 
munitions  which  they  had  purchased  in  great  quanti- 
ties; and  that  their  first  experience  in  making  use  of 
them  was  the  sorry,  awkward  bustling  of  stolid 
dreamers  when  brought  to  some  realizing  sense  of 
danger  by  the  whistling  of  Greek  shells  and  the 
rattling  of  Greek  machine  guns.     Whatever  prestige 


270  THE  BALKANS 

the  Turks  of  a  generation  ago  gained  at  Plevna  has 
been  utterly  dispelled ;  even  the  tenacity  with  which 
they  held  Adrianople  and  the  smart  return  to  the 
Maritza  valley  after  the  disarmament  of  Bulgaria  can- 
not restore  it. 


X 

HOPES  AND  FEARS 


271 


HOPES    AND    FEARS 

The  peace  movement  has  in  recent  years  assumed  The  Peace 
dimensions  which  half  a  century  ago  would  have  Propaganda 
been  considered  utterly  Utopian.  Indeed,  it  has  gone 
so  far  that  its  advocates  have  themselves  become  moral 
challengers  and  wordy  combatants.  They  have  stig- 
matized as  not  merely  brutal  but  as  utterly  uncivilized 
all  display  of  force  and  every  settlement  of  inter- 
national difficulties  except  that  of  reference  to  courts. 
To  them  all  questions  of  international  relations  have 
become  alike  legal  and  justiciable.  Moved  by  un- 
questionable zeal  and  supplied  with  ample  funds,  their 
tracts  flutter  into  our  countinghouses  and  workrooms, 
on  the  wings  of  every  mail  delivery.  They  denounce 
all  armaments  and  find  no  other  safeguard  for  the 
amity  of  nations  than  in  the  virtues  which  so  far 
have  been  those  of  a  highly  trained  and  sternly  dis- 
ciplined personality.  The  analogy  between  indi- 
viduals and  organized  society  is  so  attractive  that 
it  has  been  extended  to  cover  the  entire  field  of  social 
activities.  We  are  almost  persuaded  that  there  is 
a  national  conscience  in  the  same  sense  in  which 
there  is  a  personal  one.  It  is  a  brilliant  and  shining 
goal,  for  which  all  men  of  good  will  and  high  principle 
must  ever  strive.  Yet  the  virtue  of  self-restraint  is 
rare  in  natural  persons,  and,  even  in  them,  easily  de- 
generates into  pusillanimity. 

Many  of  our  worthy  pacifists  have  suffered  pro- 
273 


274 


THE  BALKANS 


Encouraging 
Facts 


Common 
Origins  in  the 
Balkans 


found  discouragement  in  the  contemporary  history 
of  Eastern  Europe,  but  there  are,  nevertheless,  rea- 
sons for  great  encouragement,  not  to  say  for  elation, 
when  we  consider  the  course  of  events  during  a 
half  century.  We  must  be  struck  by  the  fact  that 
for  over  forty  years  there  have  been  no  armed  con- 
flicts between  the  really  advanced  nations,  and  that 
throughout  a  period  of  nearly  two  years,  rife  with 
possible  reasons  for  disagreement ;  yes,  even  for  con- 
sidering and  offensively  upholding  the  point  of  honor 
between  them,  they  have  not  merely  made  self-deny- 
ing agreements,  but  have  likewise  observed  them  with 
a  conscientious  faithfulness  hitherto  unknown  in 
international  dealings.  They  have  shown  not  merely 
a  fine  self-restraint,  but  they  have  exhibited  a  patience 
regarding  their  unruly  wards  which  has  afforded  a 
superb  example  alike  to  the  contestants  in  the  Balkan 
wars  themselves,  to  us,  and  to  our  posterity. 

Enough  has  been  said  in  the  previous  chapters  to 
indicate  how  uncertain  is  the  so-called  nationality  of 
the  Balkan  States.  When  we  ask  ourselves  in  this 
day  and  generation  what  is  requisite  for  the  constitu- 
tion of  a  nation  we  are  sorely  puzzled  to  find  any 
satisfactory  answer.  We  know  that  all  the  old  ideas 
have  been  relegated  to  the  chambers  of  memory. 
There  are  powerful  and,  in  a  sense,  homogeneous 
states  which  have  no  singleness  of  origin,  whose  citi- 
zens are  not  descended  from  a  common  ancestry,  and 
who  have  no  common  unity  of  tradition.  Indeed,  the 
passion  for  expansion  has  produced  strong  and  vigor- 
ous nations  which  are  the  most  amazing  congeries  of 
unrelated  parts,  all  living  harmoniously  under  single 
central  governments.  In  these  nations  there  is  no  unity 
of   speech,    for  struggles   to  secure  the  use  of   one 


HOPES  AND  FEARS  275 

language  by  all  their  citizens  prove  to  be  a  source  of 
friction  and  difficulty ;  or,  even  worse,  a  cause  of  dan- 
gerous disunion  and  revolt.  Nor  is  there  in  con- 
temporary national  lives  any  true  unity  or  equality  in 
institutions  and  the  administration  of  the  laws.  With 
knowledge  more  or  less  imperfect  of  such  undisputed 
facts,  there  is  in  Eastern  Europe  a  great  race  stock 
which  does  possess  some  consciousness  of  common 
origin  and  is  nevertheless  divided  hopelessly  into  the 
great  sections  of  north  and  south  Slavs.  Having  made 
the  most  careful  inquiries  from  intelligent  sources,  the 
writer  is  convinced  that  there  is  a  unity  of  language 
among  all  Slavs  unsuspected  by  the  great  majority, 
even  of  scholars.  A  Russian  diplomat  long  in  the 
service,  and  stationed  for  the  most  part  in  Slavic 
lands  outside  of  Russia,  vigorously  asserted  that  a 
patient,  slow-speaking,  born  Slav  of  any  stock  can, 
in  conversation  with  any  other  born  Slav,  both  under- 
stand and  be  understood,  which  is  not  true  of  the 
different  peoples  who  call  themselves  Teutons  or  of 
those  who  are  styled  Latins.  Aside  from  unity  of 
origin,  tradition,  and  speech,  the  Slavs  have  a  further 
unity  in  the  matter  of  religious  faith  and  ecclesiastical 
organization. 

The  observer  must  feel  a  sense  of  dismay  when,  Elements  of 
further,  he  beholds  the  south  Slav  portion  of  this  Disunion 
great  race  stock,  more  unified  in  these  respects  than 
any  other,  embittered  against  the  Slavic  north;  and 
itself  hopelessly  shattered  into  petty  political  organi- 
zations, eager  to  emphasize  differences  rather  than 
to  preserve  correspondences.  It  is  customary  for 
those  who  attach  a  somewhat  sacrosanct  meaning  to 
the  word  "republic"  to  declare  these  evils  the  result 
of  dynastic  conspiracies.      Such  talk  is  not  merely 


276  THE  BALKANS 

untrue,  it  is  stupid.  Our  readers  will  have  observed 
that  every  Balkan  dynasty,  except  that  of  little  Monte- 
negro and  the  blood-stained  Obrenovitches  of  Servia, 
reigns  because  of  agreements  among  the  great  foreign 
nations  of  Europe,  and  is  tolerated  by  its  subjects 
just  in  proportion  as  it  identifies  itself  with  their  in- 
terests and  what  they  call  their  patriotism.  It  will 
be  only  in  the  next  generation  of  reigning  Balkan 
sovereigns,  if  the  dynasties  maintain  themselves  so 
long,  that  the  respective  Balkan  peoples  will  feel 
themselves  to  have  native  rulers. 

The  quarrels  of  these  little  states  are  due  to  a 
cause  which  lies  deeper,  namely,  the  stage  of  civiliza- 
tion which  they  have  respectively  reached.  To  an 
unsuspected  degree  they  are  still  in  the  clan  stage  of 
government.  It  is  not  political  considerations  which 
mold  their  history,  except  in  an  inchoate  form ;  with 
them  patriotism  is  a  matter  of  personal  like  or  dislike 
for  a  leader,  an  affair  of  reciprocal  interests,  of  enthu- 
siasm for  chieftains  of  some  sort,  for  men  who  may  be 
merely  petty  local  leaders.  The  rare  exceptions  are 
those  who  possess  the  gifts  which  fascinate  the  multi- 
tude, the  large  agglomerations  of  local  units.  There 
are  great  tracts  of  the  Balkan  peninsula  where  still  the 
controlling  institution  is  that  of  the  vendetta.  It  is  by 
reason  of  that  curse  of  primitive  man  that  the  king  of 
Servia  sits  on  his  throne.  There  are  other  districts 
within  which  local  government  in  some  degree  con- 
cerns itself  with  the  welfare  of  all  who  live  under  its 
limited  control.  There  are  still  others  where  there  is 
something  like  a  perception  of  that  welfare  which  is 
common  not  to  tens  nor  even  hundreds  but  to  millions 
of  like-minded  people;  where  there  can  be  noted  a  hazy 
perception  of  real  government,  but  where,  as  yet,  this 


HOPES  AND  FEARS  277 

perception  exercises  little  influence,  and  where  the  cur- 
rents of  what  can  be  called  only  by  anticipation  public 
opinion  still  find  their  principal  strength  and  direction 
in  the  personal  guidance  and  interest  of  leaders  who 
are  not  much  more  than  tribal  heroes. 

It  can  easily  be  understood  how  embryonic  were 
the  nationalities  formed  by  the  combinations  of  such 
clan  leaders  and  their  followers.  But  it  is  a  mis- 
leading analogy  to  draw  the  parallel  so  attractive  to 
those  concerned  of  the  formative  process  whereby 
the  nations  of  Central  and  Western  Europe  came 
into  being  through  the  combinations  of  various  feudal 
units.  Feudalism,  although  in  no  sense  a  political 
system,  was  nevertheless  a  very  powerful  and  highly 
organized  social  one;  and  in  no  way  comparable  in 
its  social  organization  to  clanship. 

The  nationalities  and  states  in  southeastern  Europe  Possible 
have,  nevertheless,  an  organic  germ  within  them,  and  Advance  in 
their  evolution  may  be  much  more  rapid  hereafter  aionaity 
than  it  has  been  in  the  past.  Political  forces,  like 
natural  ones,  have  no  fixed  rate,  and  operate  much 
more  swiftly  at  one  time  than  another.  Certainly, 
Rumania,  barely  sixty  years  old,  is  much  nearer  to 
being  a  nation  than  Servia.  During  the  space  of  more 
than  an  entire  century  Servia's  progress  toward  real 
nationality  was  negligible,  and  it  was  only  within 
these  very  latest  years  that  she  became  conscious  of 
national  responsibility  and  behaved  with  the  gravity 
of  a  people  which  sees  its  duty  and  contrives  to  do  it. 
There  is  a  sense  in  which  every  one  of  these  nation- 
alities is  artificial.  That  of  Albania  is  little  more 
than  a  paper  structure,  erected  on  paper  for  the  con- 
venience of  other  nations.  Throughout  the  course 
of  history  there  has  been  no  more  puzzling  phenomenon 


278  THE  BALKANS 

in  the  ineffective  human  laboratories  of  the  Balkans 
than  that  presented  at  the  present  hour  within  the 
arbitrary  boundaries  fixed  for  what  is  heralded  as  a 
coming  state.  We  can  hardly  believe  that  such  a  state 
will  ever  be  more  than  a  convenient  administrative 
district  kept  together  by  pressure  from  without  and 
ruled  with  no  other  sanction  than  that  of  unbending 
and  stern  application  of  foreign  force. 

Even  if  it  be  freely  admitted  as  a  fact  that  else- 
where petty  local  communities  were  perpetually  flying 
at  each  other's  throats  throughout  a  long  period,  and 
that  within  two  or  three  generations  there  has  been 
comparative  peace  within  their  increasing  borders,  yet 
we  have  been  eyewitnesses  of  the  fact  that  the  rela- 
tions between  those  larger  communities  are  no  better 
ordered  than  they  were  between  the  smaller.  Wild 
Europe  has  continued  to  be  wild  Europe,  with  the 
single  difference  that  the  contestants  were  brigands  of 
a  larger  growth. 
An  Armed  The  enormous  increase  in  military  strength  on  the 

Peace  part  of  the  south  Slavs,  however  divided  among  them- 

selves they  may  be,  accompanied  by  a  similar  steady 
growth  of  military  strength  among  the  north  Slavs, 
has  produced  the  conviction  in  Germanic  Europe  that 
no  peace  on  its  eastern  frontier  is  possible,  except 
an  armed  peace,  a  peace  enforced  by  sheer  brute 
strength  against  a  lower  civilization  which  manifests 
its  growing  pains  in  such  fierce  strife  as  that  of  the 
last  year.  Americans  can  very  easily  realize  the  situ- 
ation of  both  Germany  and  German  Austria  if  they 
figure  to  themselves  a  similar  neighbor  upon  contigu- 
ous territory  in  a  like  state  of  semicivilization,  but 
able  to  call  within  a  few  days  a  well-armed,  equipped, 
and  drilled  army  numbered  by  the  hundred  thousand 


HOPES  AND  FEARS  279 

into  the  field.  Throughout  our  history  we  have  felt, 
as  civilized  Europe  has,  and  have  proved  by  action, 
as  the  European  powers  have  latterly  done,  that  our 
neighbors  to  the  south  must,  if  possible,  be  permitted 
to  fight  out  their  own  quarrels;  but  we  have  also  felt 
that,  if  necessary,  they  must  be  brought  to  book  by 
armed  force  and  compelled,  under  military  sanc- 
tions, to  cease  from  murder  and  rapine,  to  exercise 
at  least  so  much  self-discipline  that  orderly  rela- 
tions might  be  maintained  with  them.  As  we  have 
remarked  in  another  connection,  the  armaments  of 
the  European  world  have  been  increased  to  an 
appalling  extent  solely  and  entirely  because  of  the 
menace  which  is  believed  to  exist  in  the  possible  and 
even  probable  exercise  of  the  force  accumulated  in 
the  Balkans  for  the  purpose  of  these  latest  wars. 
Were  we  their  close  neighbors,  nothing  could  shake 
our  conviction  that  the  only  peace  possible  was  an 
armed  one.  We  have  previously  used  their  own  word 
"extermination."  How  near  an  approach  to  that 
dreadful  goal  has  been  made  is  displayed  in  the  figures 
of  a  Bulgarian  census  taken  in  the  first  weeks  of 
January,  19 14.  In  the  conquered  territories  assigned 
to  them  the  adult  males  numbered  702,000  before  the 
outbreak  of  hostilities;  at  their  close  there  remained 
alive  only  300,501 ! 

The  relations  of  European  powers  to  each  other  Delicate 
are,  of  course,  many  sided.    Throughout  the  duration  Relations  of 
of  these  wars  there  was,   as   repeatedly  noted,   real      e    owers 
unity  of  all  the  Six  Great  Powers  to  delimit  the  field 
of  hostilities  and  confine  the  fighting  to  the  territories 
of  the  combatants.     But  they  had  other  and  very  im- 
portant   relations    which    occupied    and    continue    to 
occupy  the  strained  attention  of  their  statesmen.    The 


28o  THE  BALKANS 

Triple  Entente  was  wooing  Spain ;  the  notion  of  a 
common  Mediterranean  policy  for  those  dwelling  on 
the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  manifested  itself  in 
an  imperious  way,  and  the  whole  question  of  Medi- 
terranean control  was  thrown  into  the  forum  of  pub- 
lic debate.  The  interests  of  Great  Britain  in  that 
matter  have  not  changed  and  are  widely  different 
from  those  of  France,  Spain,  Italy,  Greece,  and 
Russia. 

Meanwhile,  the  Triple  Alliance  was  regarding  with 
complacency  the  better  understanding  and  closer 
union  between  the  three  Scandinavian  powers,  and 
was  successfully  cultivating  their  good  will.  The 
efforts  made  to  promote  a  better  and  milder  state  of 
feeling  between  Great  Britain  and  Germany  have  been 
little  short  of  Herculean.  There  have  been  important 
results,  but  as  yet  not  entirely  proportionate  to  the 
exertions  made.  The  most  that  can  be  said  is  that  on 
both  sides  hysterical  and  unreasoning  bitterness  is  no 
longer  manifested,  and  that  the  wisest  and  calmest 
public  opinion  in  both  nations  regards  with  interest 
and  approval  every  effort  to  create  some  degree  of 
cordiality.  We  hear  very  much  at  this  distance  about 
the  proposal  for  a  naval  holiday,  that  is,  for  a  tem- 
porary cessation  of  the  waste  and  extravagance 
involved  in  the  rivalry  for  overwhelming  sea  power. 
Yet,  in  our  enthusiasm  for  a  suspension  of  war  prepa- 
rations, we  should  be  reminded  that  in  a  small  but 
important  way  Greece,  having  been  successful  dur- 
ing the  Balkan  wars  in  her  naval  policy,  has  seen 
her  very  existence  as  a  nation  once  again  thrown 
into  the  balance  by  Turkey's  purchase  of  a  dread- 
nought, that  her  prime  minister,  Venezelos,  has 
made  the  round  of  the  European  Cabinets  asking  that 


HOPES  AND  FEARS  281 

they  forbid  the  renewal  by  Turkey  of  hostilities  either 
by  land  or  sea;  and,  incidentally,  that  a  sop  may  be 
thrown  to  the  unreasoning  exaltation  of  his  fellow 
countrymen  by  leaving,  at  least  for  a  time,  Greek 
garrisons  in  the  Greek  towns  within  the  lines  desig- 
nated as  the  frontier  of  Albania.  Now,  nothing 
could  be  easier  than  to  command  peace  by  sea  between 
Greece  and  Turkey ;  but  who  shall  issue  the  mandate, 
and  who  shall  profit  by  commanding  such  a  cessation 
of  arms?  Italy  and  Austria-Hungary,  without  attract- 
ing much  attention,  are  steadily  increasing  their  naval 
power  with  a  view  to  just  such  an  emergency;  and  the 
increase  of  existing  naval  power  in  any  direction  de- 
mands a  general  readjustment  and  produces  a  nervous 
uneasiness  in  the  nations  hitherto  accustomed  to  be 
supreme  in  that  regard. 

Close  examination  of  the  relations  between  the  Bal- 
kan powers  and  the  Triple  Alliance  reveals  sources 
of  disturbance  which,  though  momentarily  sealed, 
might  easily  be  reopened.  When  Austria-Hungary 
demanded  a  revision  by  the  Six  Powers  of  the  treaty 
of  Bucharest  which  distributed  the  spoils  and  was 
signed  by  representatives  of  all  the  Balkan  States, 
except  Turkey,  on  August  10,  1913,  it  was  her  trusted 
ally  and  bulwark,  Germany,  which  thwarted  the  plan 
and  announced  its  emphatic  approval  of  the  treaty. 
This  was  due  to  a  widespread  and  firm  conviction 
that  Emperor  William  had  given  to  his  brother-in- 
law,  King  Constantine,  convincing  reasons  for  moder- 
ation in  the  demands  of  Greece  on  the  one  side  and 
had  enforced  similar  considerations  with  his  Hohen- 
zollern  relative,  the  king  of  Rumania,  on  the  other. 
It  was  without  question  highly  significant  that  in  reply 
to  the  emperor's  congratulatory  dispatch  King  Carol 


282  THE  BALKANS 

of  Rumania  expressed  thanks  for  services  rendered. 
In  order  to  soothe  Austro-Hungarian  susceptibilities 
it  was  necessary  at  a  later  date  for  the  emperor  to 
protest  anew  a  loyal  friendship  for  his  faithful  ally, 
Austria-Hungary. 

Italy  supported  Austria-Hungary  in  her  demand 
that  Scutari  be  included  in  Albania,  and  this  was  an 
act  of  tremendous  significance,  because  the  much- 
loved  consort  of  King  Victor  Emmanuel  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  King  Nicholas  of  Montenegro,  and  tempera- 
mentally a  devoted  patriot — a  fine,  public-spirited 
woman  alike  as  regards  the  land  of  her  birth  and  that 
of  her  adoption.  Naturally  enough,  some  slight 
jealousy  of  Austro-Hungarian  influence  in  the  new 
Albania  has  been  felt  throughout  every  rank  of  the 
Italian  people.  This  uneasiness  was  further  height- 
ened when  it  was  known  that  the  excitable  and  mer- 
curial population  of  Triest,  the  new  queen  of  the 
Adriatic,  the  metropolis  of  "Italia  Irridenta,"  had 
taken  this  opportunity  to  make  anti-Italian  demon- 
strations before  the  Italian  consulate.  How  far  the 
temper  thus  created  is  likely  to  influence  Italy's  course 
regarding  the  /Egean  Islands  she  had  seized  from 
Turkey  and  still  holds  in  pawn  cannot  be  known  at 
the  present  writing,  but  what  is  thought  and  felt  in 
the  nervous,  hypersensitive  chancelleries  of  the  Euro- 
pean capitals  is  manifested  in  a  British  note  to  the 
Powers  issued  in  the  first  weeks  of  1914. 

Ostensibly  this  note  was  to  soothe  the  exasperation 
of  both  Italy  and  Austria-Hungary  regarding  the 
south  Albanian  frontier  and  the  work  of  the  commis- 
sion which  was  to  have  been  completed  on  November 
30,  191 3,  but  had  been  delayed  for  more  than  a  month. 
In  reality,  it  appears  as  if  its  weightiest  paragraphs 


HOPES  AND  FEARS  283 

were  those  dealing  with  the  question  of  the  JEgean 
Islands  held  respectively  by  Greece  and  Italy.  The 
note  suggests  the  retention  by  Greece  of  all  the  islands 
it  had  occupied,  except  the  two  at  the  "mouth  of  the 
Dardanelles,  Imbros  and  Tenedos,  always  with  the 
understanding  that  she  fortify  none  of  them  nor  make 
any  one  a  naval  base.  It  further  emphasizes  and 
repeats  the  categorical  assurances  given  by  the  Italian 
government  that  on  the  conclusion  of  peace  with  Tur- 
key it  would  evacuate  the  islands  it  had  seized.  It  calls 
attention  to  the  fact  that  while  Turkey  had  not  trans- 
ported from  Tripolitan  soil  every  remnant  of  its  army, 
nevertheless  it  had  disavowed  and  placed  "hors 
cadres"  the  officers  there  remaining,  and  that  the 
treaty  of  Lausanne  had  thus  acquired  full  validity. 
The  time,  therefore,  is  ripe  for  settlement.  When 
these  islands  are  restored  to  Turkey  they  should,  ac- 
cording to  the  suggestion  of  the  note,  receive  some 
form  of  autonomous  government.  This  proposition 
is  manifestly  intended  to  placate  all  the  Mediterranean 
powers,  including  Turkey  and  Italy.  The  Italians 
have  been,  during  the  period  of  their  occupation,  un- 
tiring in  the  improvement  of  their  temporary  posses- 
sions, especially  in  organizing  and  developing  the 
resources,  long  untouched  but  considerable,  which  still 
exist  in  those  Elysian  spots,  notably  in  Rhodes. 

Inasmuch  as  the  respective  members  in  each  of  the 
two  threefold  arrangements  or  understandings,  by 
whichever  name  they  are  known,  sedulously  and  care- 
fully watch  each  other  in  regard  to  the  strength  of 
their  available  military  armaments  by  land  or  by  sea, 
it  is  manifest  that  these  semifederal  unions  would  not 
be  renewed  from  time  to  time  as  they  are  unless  the 
situation  were  fairly  satisfactory  to  all.     Of  course 


284 


THE  BALKANS 


"United 
States  of 
Europe" 


the  readjustments  of  internal  politics  in  each  and  all 
have  much  to  do  with  their  foreign  affairs.  By  means 
of  an  elaborate  diplomatic  system,  however,  each 
power  thoroughly  understands  the  situation  as  regards 
every  other;  not  merely  in  matters  of  public  knowledge 
but,  oftentimes,  through  their  confessed  system  of 
espionage,  in  matters  intended  to  be  kept  secret.  We 
may  reasonably  conclude,  therefore,  that,  on  the 
whole,  the  existing  situation  is  considered  fairly  satis- 
factory. The  equilibrium  is  quite  as  stable  as  any 
that  has  existed  for  two  generations. 

The  good  habit  of  peaceful  negotiation  without 
recourse  either  to  force  or  to  courts  of  arbitration 
has  been  crystallized  so  far  as  to  give  great  promise 
for  the  future.  The  good  habit  of  referring  acute 
difficulties  to  the  cool  deliberations  of  an  international 
court  is  not  so  well  established,  although  promising 
beginnings  have  been  made.  Idealists  have  long  dis- 
cussed the  possibility  of  a  "United  States  of  Europe." 
While  such  a  federation  is  far  from  realization  in 
the  sense  attached  generally  to  the  idea  connoted  by 
those  words,  yet  lovers  of  peace  ought  to  realize  that, 
as  far  as  the  Six  Powers  are  concerned,  much  has 
been  accomplished  during  these  recent  years  toward 
furnishing  a  practical  and  striking  example  of  what  a 
more  perfect  union  would  be  able  to  do  for  the 
advancement  of  mankind.  It  is  not  the  dream  of  a 
visionary  that  such  an  initial  unstable  equilibrium  may 
become  more  and  more  stable  and  trustworthy  as 
Western  Europe  is  confronted  with  the  difficult  situ- 
ation which  exists  in  the  eastern  portion  of  that 
continent.  It  seems  like  a  categorical  imperative 
that  the  higher  civilization  should  unite  all  its  forces, 
alike  for  possible  conflict  and  for  the  peaceful  uplift 


HOPES  AND  FEARS  285 

of  a  great  mass  of  humanity  emerging  from  dark- 
ness. 

In  the  endeavor  to  draw  from  the  facts  that  have  Some 
recently  come  under  our  observation  some  conclusions 
regarding  that  which  we  do  not  know,  we.  at  least,  are 
justified  in  believing  that  should  there  be  a  new  out- 
break in  the  Balkan  States  during  the  near  future, 
the  Six  Powers  would  again  adopt  the  policy  of  patient 
waiting,  which  has  proved,  in  spite  of  its  patent  faults, 
on  the  whole,  satisfactory  to  all  concerned.  The 
result,  of  course,  would  be  a  more  complete  exhaus- 
tion of  every  one  of  the  Balkan  powers,  including 
Turkey.  At  any  rate,  there  is  no  longer  any  excuse 
for  federation  against  Turkey  and  the  renewal  of 
hostilities  on  that  basis.  What  seems  much  more 
likely  is  the  transfer  of  the  antiquated  Occidental  doc- 
trine of  "balance"  from  Western  to  southeastern 
Europe.  This  would  result  in  creating  two  jealous  and 
hostile  federations  for  the  preservation  on  the  one  side 
of  what  has  already  been  gained  by  the  members  of 
one :  and,  on  the  other  side,  the  prevention  of  further 
aggression  to  increase  their  gains  by  the  nations  who 
have  profited,  as  is  felt,  far  beyond  their  deserts. 

It  is  not  absurd  to  conceive  at  least  of  Greece  and 
Servia,  with  possibly  Rumania  and  Montenegro,  form- 
ing a  league  to  assure,  by  means  of  a  long  or  compar- 
atively long  cessation  of  warfare,  the  consolidation  of 
their  power  in  the  conquered  territories  definitely  ap- 
portioned to  them  at  Bucharest.  But  it  is  a  matter  of 
no  great  importance  how  separate  understandings  may 
be  reached  among  the  Balkan  powers.  It  is  a  matter  of 
the  first  importance  that  they  have  already  contem- 
plated them  and  that  in  their  primitive  historical  labo- 
ratory the  experiences  and  experiments  of  older  nations 


Tentative 
Conclusions 


286  THE  BALKANS 

may  be  tried  for  their  purposes.  Should  there  be 
formed  two  fairly  stable  federations,  it  would  not  be  so 
utterly  impossible  that  out  of  the  two  one  should  even- 
tually arise  that  could  be  consummated  in  no  other  way. 
Considering  the  strength  the  Balkan  powers  have  ex- 
hibited, and  the  fact  that  four  of  them  proved  the 
efficiency  of  federation  even  for  so  short  a  time,  it 
must  he  finally  revealed  to  them  that  only  by  closer  and 
longer  federation  can  they  finally  present  a  respectable 
front  toward  Central  Europe  and  assert  the  right 
which  they  claim  to  determine  for  themselves  their 
final  destinies. 

Each  of  these  states  has  quite  enough  to  do  within 
its  own  frontiers  to  exhaust  every  effort  they  could 
possibly  exert  for  thirty  years  to  come.  While  Francis 
Joseph  is  the  sovereign  of  Austria-Hungary  there  can 
be  no  question  of  division  in  his  monarchy;  not  even 
an  effective  demand,  as  we  believe,  for  its  transforma- 
tion from  a  dual  to  a  triple  one,  having  its  Slav  popula- 
tion organized  into  a  state  with  relations  to  the  crown 
similar  to  those  which  Hungary  now  maintains.  When 
the  aged  ruler  is  gathered  to  his  fathers  the  worst  that 
can  happen  would  be  something  of  that  sort,  because 
the  centrifugal  forces  of  disintegration  will  be  more 
than  counteracted  by  pressure  from  without.  It  must, 
therefore,  be  the  task  of  Rumanian  statesmen  to  curb 
the  lively  but  uncertain  aspirations  of  their  people  to 
enlarge  the  kingdom  so  that  it  will  comprise  within  still 
greater  frontiers  all  who  claim  to  be  Rumanians,  in- 
cluding the  great  number  inhabiting  Transylvania 
under  the  rule  of  the  Dual  Monarchy.  Nor  will  it 
be  entirely  easy  to  pacify  her  new  subjects  within  the 
strategic  frontier  to  the  south,  which  she  has  recently 
acquired.    Most  of  them  are  Turks  and  Moslems,  while 


HOPES  AND  FEARS  287 

many  are  patriotic  Bulgarians.  It  will  be  a  matter  of 
enormous  expense  to  fortify  this  new  frontier,  to  es- 
tablish and  enlarge  her  Black  Sea  commerce,  to 
strengthen  her  already  redoubtable  army,  and  secure 
better  relations  with  her  powerful  neighbor  on  the 
north. 

The  burdens  which  Servia  must  carry  for  years  to 
come  are  even  heavier.     She  has  nearly  doubled  the 
extent  of  her  territory,  and  to  her  lot  it  has   fallen 
to  regenerate  the  greater  part  of  Macedonia,  whose 
tribulations,  already  described,  have  almost  completed 
the   long   process   of   annihilating   all   her   resources, 
human  and  physical.     The  rich  pasture  lands  are  still 
there,  but  in  the  north  they  are  held  by  Mohammedan 
Albanians,  and  in  the  south  by  Christian  Bulgarians. 
The  people  of  Novi-Bazar  are  Servian  Moslems  whose 
social  station  and  organization  make  them  as  difficult 
of  assimilation  as  the  Albanians.     Servia  claims,  of 
course,  that  the  so-called  Bulgarians  of  Macedonia  are 
Bulgarized  Serbs,  who,  if  left  undisturbed  to  her  train- 
ing, will  in  ten  or  fifteen  years  become  enthusiastic 
Servians.     In  the  meanwhile  she  has  first  to  outlaw 
the  komitadjis  and  bring  the  members  of  those  cruel 
bands  to  trial  and  punishment;  she  has  to  lay  before 
the  exhausted  villagers  of  Macedonia  the  choice  be- 
tween Servian  and   Bulgarian   nationality,  and  more 
than  all  else,  she  has  to  lay  the  foundations  for  a  per- 
manent economic  prosperity,  by  means  of  new  trans- 
portation lines.     She  expects,  when  the  Greek  railway 
system  is  finally  connected  by  way  of  Larissa   and 
Salonica  with  that  of  the  north,  and  when  her  own 
lines  are  put   into  satisfactory   condition,   that  great 
numbers  of  tourists  from  the  west  will  at  least  behold 
her  natural  beauties  from  car  windows,  and  particu- 


288  THE  BALKANS 

larly  that  Rumanian  commerce  will  use  the  new  trunk 
line  for  easier  access  to  the  Mediterranean,  and  that 
thus  by  a  substantial  growth  of  freight  and  passenger 
traffic  she  will  enormously  increase  her  material  pros- 
perity. In  case  of  a  customs  union  with  Montenegro 
she  would  have  direct  access  to  the  Adriatic  through 
Antivari  and  Dulcigno.  The  neglected  fields  of  Mace- 
donia must  also  be  restored  to  tillage,  what  are  still 
smoking  ruins  must  once  again  be  rebuilt  for  human 
habitation,  and  a  more  vigorous  administration  than 
she  has  hitherto  practiced  must  be  created  and  set  in 
operation.  In  short,  there  must  be  a  moral  regenera- 
tion of  her  people  on  the  civic  side  equal  to  that  which 
it  has  undergone  on  the  military.  These  are  labors  of 
Hercules.  We  can  only  hope  that  they  can  be  per- 
formed by  those  to  whom  they  are  intrusted. 

The  task  of  Bulgaria  is  equally  severe.  Above  all 
else,  her  courage  must  be  resuscitated  and  her  very 
life  restored.  Her  exhaustion  is  more  complete  than 
that  of  any  other  of  the  recent  combatants.  What 
is  possibly  the  most  distasteful  of  all  her  endeavors  will 
be  the  cultivation  of  helpful  relations  on  one  side  with 
Austria-Hungary  and  on  the  other  with  her  ruthless 
and  embittered  enemy  Turkey.  To  win  and  keep  the 
friendship  of  these  states  seems  her  only  resource 
against  further  depredations.  The  Dual  Monarchy, 
in  spite  of  the  creation  of  Albania,  is  dissatisfied  with 
the  settlement  made  at  Bucharest  and  seems  deter- 
mined to  prevent  the  solidification  of  existing  con- 
ditions. It  is  afraid  of  the  new  and  larger  Servia. 
It  is  accused  of  secretly  supporting  Albanian  dis- 
turbers on  one  of  the  Servian  frontiers,  while  on  the 
other  the  quarantine  regulations  and  their  enforce- 
ment are  made  as  exasperating  as  possible.     It  like- 


HOPES  AND  FEARS  289 

wise  claims  a  special  rate  for  the  transportation  of  its 
goods  to  Salonica.  What  is  worst  of  all,  it  seems 
likely  to  demand  a  protectorate  over  Roman  Catholics 
dwelling  in  Servia  similar  to  that  which  it  claims  to 
exercise  over  Roman  Catholics  within  the  Albanian 
frontiers.  Whether  or  not  Servia,  Montenegro,  and 
Greece,  with  some  assistance  from  Rumania,  may  be 
able  to  keep  the  peace  would  be  a  matter  of  doubt 
were  it  not  for  the  prostration  of  Turkey  and  Bulga- 
ria, both  of  which,  though  still  warlike,  are  prone  and 
panting  and  cannot  be  for  long  years  very  dangerous 
antagonists  either  by  sea  or  by  land. 

Necessity  laughs  at  theory:  how  far  the  antiquated 
principle  of  nationality,  based  on  creed  and  language, 
has  been  disregarded  appears  from  the  map.  The 
delimitation  contemplated  in  the  secret  treaty  scouted 
it  entirely,  as  the  sketch  line  shows.  The  boundaries 
tentatively  fixed  pay  somewhat  more  attention  to  it, 
but  still  very  little.  The  frontier  between  Turkey  and 
Bulgaria  begins  north  of  Iniada  on  the  Black  Sea  and 
by  a  westward  curve  ten  miles  or  more  from  Adriano- 
ple  reaches  the  Maritza  River,  which  it  follows  to  the 
TEgean:  in  the  northern  portions  of  this  segment  the 
inhabitants  are  Bulgarians;  in  the  southern  they  are 
Greeks,  almost  exclusively  so  on  the  yEgean.  By  con- 
fession most  of  the  people  are  Moslems,  indeed  over- 
whelmingly so. 

The  slight  gain  of  Bulgaria  on  the  Euxine  is  the 
valley  of  the  Galadschio  River  with  the  port  of 
Agathopoli :  the  population  is  Bulgarian  and  Christian 
in  the  main.  The  more  substantial  enlargement  by 
the  annexation  of  western  Thrace  to  the  south  of  the 
vEgean  coast  from  the  mouth  of  the  Maritza  to  that 
of  the  Mesta ;  and  by  the  acquisition  also  of  the  inland 


290  THE  BALKANS 

valleys  of  the  Mesta  and  Struma  Rivers  with  the  town 
of  Strumnitza  presents  a  very'  serious  problem.  Within 
these  limits  are  numerous  Greeks  and  some  Turks : 
the  people  of  northeastern  Macedonia  are  Bulgarians 
and  Christians  eager  to  amalgamate  with  their  kins- 
folk. But  the  problem  of  the  four  hundred  thousand 
Pomaks,  Moslem  Bulgarians  of  western  Thrace,  is 
most  serious;  their  fanaticism  is  excessive,  and  thirty 
years  ago  they  perpetrated  the  most  frightful  atrocities 
on  their  Christian  kinsfolk.  They  stand  now  an  un- 
solved enigma,  and  might,  under  contingencies  easily 
imagined,  largely  neutralize  the  advantage  gained  by 
Bulgaria  in  securing  an  outlet  to  the  ^gean. 

Many  consider  that  Greece  requires  a  period  of 
recuperation  quite  as  extended  as  that  essential  both 
to  Bulgaria  and  Turkey.  She  has  to  maintain  her 
preeminence  by  sea;  she  has  to  fortify  and  garrison 
the  long  and  unscientific  frontier  recently  acquired. 
In  Salonica  she  has  the  most  coveted  harbor  of  the 
yEgean;  more  than  half  of  its  one  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-five thousand  inhabitants  are  Spanish  Jews  not 
possible  to  be  Hellenized ;  and  were  it  not  for  the  pos- 
sible and  probable  financial  assistance  of  her  kinsfolk 
living  elsewhere  than  in  the  enlarged  Hellas,  the  possi- 
bility of  assimilation  would  appear  desperate. 

On  the  mainland  she  has  southern  Epirus,  but  is 
forced  to  leave  within  the  Servian  frontier  large  num- 
bers of  her  compatriots  and  withdraw  her  garrisons 
from  their  towns.  This  is  likely  to  prove  a  cause  of 
unceasing  turmoil  and  an  exasperation  sure  to  arouse 
intermittent  outbreaks  of  violence.  She  secures  the 
hand-shaped  peninsula  of  Chalcidice  and  the  Macedo- 
nian shore.  Her  boundary  begins  east  of  Corfu,  in- 
cludes  the   Vozintza  watershed,   the  entire   Wistritza 


HOPES  AND  FEARS  291 

valley,  and  the  inland  south  of  Monastir.  The  inhab- 
itants of  these  districts  are  largely  Greek  Christians, 
but  there  are  many  Moslem  Vlachs  on  the  uplands, 
numerous  Greek  Moslems  in  various  communities,  and 
a  substantial  number  of  both  Albanians  and  Turks. 
By  the  contemplated  disposal  of  the  yEgean  islands  she 
becomes  an  insular  and  of  necessity  a  maritime  power 
to  an  extent  greater  than  ever.  In  Crete  she  has  the 
key  to  the  iEgean.  She  will  add  to  the  many  islands 
she  already  possesses  Chios,  Mitylene,  Lemnos,  Samo- 
thrace,  and  Tenedos,  perhaps.  Samos  will  maintain 
its  autonomy  and  Thasos  remains  under  Egyptian 
sway.  Italian  aspirations  are  momentarily  quenched, 
but  they  are  not  annihilated.  The  tension  with  Tur- 
key is  such  that  in  it  there  is  still  another  standing 
menace  to  the  peaceful  solution  of  the  troubles  existing 
in  the  expansion  of  Hellenic  power. 

The  reverse  of  this  dreary  outline,  however,  is 
to  be  found  in  the  very  helplessness  of  the  Bal- 
kan powers.  Like  boys  who  have  fought  it  out, 
they  have  a  wholesome  mutual  respect  one  for  the 
other,  and  their  wounds,  though  not  mortal,  ache 
and  will  take  long  to  heal.  All  the  rest  of  Europe 
is  weary  of  its  increasing  armaments.  The  expe- 
rience which  the  great  powers  have  so  recently 
had,  makes  for  better  acquaintance  among  them  and 
their  peoples ;  for  a  higher  degree  of  self-respect,  and 
for  the  continuation  of  the  general  equilibrium,  which, 
however  nice  in  its  adjustment,  nevertheless  exists. 
The  problem  of  Turkey  in  Europe  is  largely  solved. 
To  permit  any  renewal  of  a  warfare  likely  to  disturb 
or  destroy  the  existing  solution  would  demand  on  the 
part  of  all  other  nations  a  still  further  burden  of  taxa- 
tion and  of  intolerable  extravagance  for  armies  and 


292  THE  BALKANS 

fleets.  The  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  seems  to 
be  that  this  cannot  and  will  not  be  permitted.  The 
Balkan  fires  are  likely  to  be  banked  for  an  age  to 
come;  the  alembics  are  shattered,  the  instruments  of 
precision,  as  they  were  considered,  are  racked  and 
untrustworthy,  the  ghosts  evoked  by  the  witches'  caul- 
dron of  their  inept  politics  have  been  relegated  to  the 
limbo  of  extinction.  In  particular  the  dogma  that 
nationality,  ecclesiasticism,  and  consanguinity  are  the 
foundations  of  political  efficiency  has  been  discredited. 


APPENDIX 


293 


APPENDIX 

Traite  d'Amitie  et  d' Alliance 

Entre  le  Royaume  de  Bulgarie 

Et  le  Royaume  de  Serbie 

S.  M.  Ferdinand  Ier,  roi  des  Bulgares,  et  S.  M.  Pierre  I",  roi 
de  Serbie,  penetres  de  la  conviction  de  la  communaute  d'interets 
et  de  la  similitude  des  destinees  de  leurs  Etats  et  des  deux 
peuples  freres,  bulgare  et  serbe,  et  decides  a  defendre  solidaire- 
ment,  avec  des  forces  communes,  ces  interets  et  a  s'efforcer  de 
les  mener  a  bonne  fin,  sont  convenus  de  ce  qui  suit : 

Article  premier 
Le  royaume  de  Bulgarie  et  le  royaume  de  Serbie  se  garantis- 
sent  mutuellement  leur  independance  politique  et  l'integrite  de 
leur  territoire,  en  s'engageant  d'une  maniere  absolue  et  sans 
restriction  d'aucune  sorte  a  se  porte  reciproquement  secours, 
avec  la  totalite  de  leurs  forces,  dans  tout  cas  ou  l'un  des  deux 
royaumes  serait  attaque  par  un  ou  plusieurs  Etats. 

Art.  2 
Les  deux  parties  contractantes  s'engagent  de  meme  a  se  porter 
mutuellement  secours,  avec  la  totalite  de  leurs  forces,  au  cas 
ou  l'une  quelconque  des  grandes  puissances  tenterait  de  s'an- 
nexer,  ou  d'occuper,  ou  de  prendre  possession  avec  ses  troupes, 
meme  provisoirement,  de  n'importe  quelle  partie  des  territoires 
de  la  peninsule  des  Balkans  se  trouvant  actuellement  sous  la 
domination  turque,  si  l'une  des  parties  contractantes  estime  ce 
fait  contraire  a  ses  interets  vitaux  et  constituant  un  casus  belli. 

Art.  3 
Les   deux   parties   contractantes   s'engagent   a   ne   conclure   la 
paix  que  conjointement  et  apres  entente  prealable. 

Art.  4 
Une    convention    militaire    sera    conclue    a    reffet    d'assurer 
l'execution  du  present  traite  d'une  maniere  complete  et  le  plus 

295 


296  APPENDIX 

conforme  au  but  poursuivi.  Cette  convention  stipulera  aussi 
bien  tout  ce  qu'il  y  aura  lieu  d'entreprendre  de  part  et  d'autre 
en  cas  de  guerre,  que  tout  ce  qui,  ayant  trait  a  l'organisation 
militaire,  la  dislocation  et  la  mobilisation  des  troupes,  les  rap- 
ports des  hauts  commandements,  devra  etre  etabli,  des  le  temps 
de  paix,  pour  la  preparation  et  la  bonne  conduite  de  la  guerre. 

La  convention  militaire  fera  partie  integrante  du  present 
traite.  Son  elaboration  devra  commencer  au  plus  tard  quinze 
jours  apres  la  signature  du  present  traite  et  etre  terminee  dans 
le  delai  suivant  de  deux  mois. 

Art.  5 

Le  present  traite  et  la  convention  militaire  seront  en  vigueur 
du  jour  de  leur  signature  jusqu'au  31  decembre  1920  inclusive- 
ment.  lis  ne  pourront  etre  proroges  au  dela  de  ce  delai  qu'apres 
une  entente  complementaire,  expressement  sanctionnee,  des 
deux  parties  contractantes.  Toutefois,  au  cas  ou  au  jour  de 
l'expiration  du  traite  et  de  la  convention  militaire,  les  deux 
parties  se  trouveraient  etre  en  guerre  ou  sans  avoir  liquide 
encore  la  situation  resultant  de  la  guerre,  le  traite  et  la  con- 
vention seront  maintenus  en  vigueur  jusqu'a  la  signature  de  la 
paix  ou  a  la  liquidation  de  l'etat  de  choses  amene  par  la  guerre. 

Art.  6 

Le  present  traite  sera  etabli  en  deux  exemplaires  uniformes, 
rediges  tous  les  deux  en  langue  serbe  et  bulgare.  II  sera  signe 
par  les  souverains  et  les  ministres  des  affaires  etrangeres  des 
deux  Etats.  La  convention  militaire,  egalement  en  deux  exem- 
plaires rediges  en  bulgare  et  en  serbe,  sera  signee  par  les  sou- 
verains, les  ministres  des  affaires  etrangeres  et  les  plenipoten- 
tiaires  militaires  speciaux. 

Art.  7 

Le  present  traite  et  la  convention  militaire  ne  pourront  etre 
publies  ou  communiques  a  d'autres  Etats  qu'apres  entente 
prealable  des  deux  parties  contractantes,  et  ce  conjointement  et 
simultanement. 

Une  entente  prealable  sera  de  meme  necessaire  pour  l'admis- 
sion  d'un  tiers  Etat  dans  l'alliance. 

Fait  a  Sofia,  le  29  fevrier  1912 


APPENDIX  297 

Annexe  secrete  au  traite  d'amitie  et  d'alliance  entre  le  royaume 
de  Bulgarie  et  le  royaume  de  Serbie 

Article  premier 

Au  cas  ou  des  troubles  interieurs,  de  nature  a  mettre  en  danger 
les  interets  nationaux  ou  d'Etat  des  parties  contractantes  ou 
de  l'une  d'elles,  survenaient  en  Turquie,  comme  au  cas  ou  des 
difficultes  interieures  ou  exterieures  avec  lesquelles  la  Turquie 
se  verrait  aux  prises  mettraient  en  cause  le  maintien  du  statu 
quo  dans  la  peninsule  des  Balkans,  celle  des  deux  parties  con- 
tractantes qui  aboutirait  la  premiere  a  la  conviction  qu'une 
action  militaire  doit  etre  engagee  de  ce  fait  s'adressera,  par  une 
proposition  motivee,  a  l'autre  partie  qui  sera  tenue  d'entrer  im- 
mediatement  dans  un  echange  de  vues,  et  si  elle  ne  tombe 
pas  d'accord  avec  son  alliee,  de  lui  donner  une  reponse 
motivee. 

Si  une  entente  en  vue  d'une  action  intervient,  cette  entente 
devra  etre  communiquee  a  la  Russie,  et  au  cas  ou  cette  puis- 
sance ne  s'y  opposerait  pas,  Taction  sera  engagee,  conformement 
a  l'entente  etablie  et  en  s'inspirant  en  tout  des  sentiments  de 
solidarite  et  de  communaute  d'interets.  Dans  le  cas  contraire 
— soit  si  une  entente  n'intervient  pas — les  deux  Etats  feront 
appel  a  l'opinion  de  la  Russie,  laquelle  opinion  sera,  si  et  dans 
la  mesure  dans  laquelle  la  Russie  se  prononcera,  obligatoire 
pour  les  deux  parties. 

Au  cas  ou  la  Russie  s'abstenant  de  donner  son  opinion  et 
l'entente  entre  les  deux  parties  contractantes  ne  pouvant,  meme 
apres  cela,  etre  obtenue,  celle  des  deux  parties  qui  est  pour  une 
action  decide  d'engager  cette  derniere  a  elle  seule  et  a  ses 
risques,  l'autre  partie  sera  tenue  d'observer  une  neutralite 
amicale  vis-a-vis  de  son  alliee,  de  proceder  sur-le-champ  a  une 
mobilisation  dans  les  limites  prevues  par  la  convention  militaire 
et  de  se  porter,  avec  toutes  ses  forces,  au  secours  de  son  alliee, 
si  un  tiers  Etat  prenait  le  parti  de  la  Turquie. 

Art.  2 

Tous  les  accroissements  territoriaux  qui  seraient  realises  par 
une  action  commune  dans  le  sens  des  articles  premier  et  second 
du  traite  et  de  l'article  premier  de  la  presente  annexe  secrete, 
tombent  sous  la  domination  commune  (condominium)   des  deux 


298  APPENDIX 

etats  allies.  Lcur  liquidation  aura  lieu  sans  retard,  dans  un 
delai  maximum  de  trois  mois  apres  le  retablissement  de  la  paix, 
et  sur  les  bases  suivantes : 

La  Serbie  recommit  a  la  Bulgarie  le  droit  sur  les  territoires 
a  l'est  des  Rhodope  et  de  la  riviere  Strouma ;  la  Bulgarie  recon- 
nait  le  droit  de  la  Serbie  sur  ceux  situes  au  nord  et  a  l'ouest 
du  Char-Planina. 

Quant  aux  territoires  compris  entre  le  Char,  les  Rhodope, 
la  mer  Egee  et  le  lac  d'Ochrida,  si  les  deux  parties  acquierent 
la  conviction  que  leur  organisation  en  province  autonome  dis- 
tincte  est  impossible  en  vue  des  interets  communs  des  natio- 
nality bulgare  et  serbe  ou  pour  d'autres  raisons  d'ordre  in- 
terieur  ou  exterieur,  il  sera  dispose  de  ces  territoires  conforme- 
ment  aux  stipulations  ci-dessous: 

La  Serbie  s'engage  a  ne  formuler  aucune  revendication  en 
ce  qui  concerne  les  territoires  situes  au  dela  de  la  ligne  tracee 
sur  la  carte  ci-annexee  et  qui,  ayant  son  point  de  depart  a  la 
frontiere  turco-bulgare,  au  mont  Golem  (au  nord  de  Kr. 
Palanka)  suit  la  direction  generale  du  sud-ouest  jusqu'au  lac 
d'Ochrida,  en  passant  par  le  mont  Kitka;  entre  les  villages  de 
Metejevo  et  Podarji-Kon,  par  le  sommet  a  Test  du  village  Ne- 
rav,  en  suivant  la  ligne  de  partage  des  eaux  jusqu'au  sommet 
I. ooo  au  nord  du  village  de  Baschtevo,  entre  les  villages  de 
Liubentzi  et  Petarlitza,  par  le  sommet  Ostritch  1.000  (Lissetz- 
Planina),  le  sommet  1.050  entre  les  villages  de  Dratch  et 
Opila,  par  les  villages  de  Talichmantzi  et  Jivalevo,  le  som- 
met 1.050,  le  sommet  1.000,  le  village  Kichali,  la  ligne  principale 
de  partage  des  eaux  Gradichte-Planina  jusqu'au  sommet  Gorich- 
te,  vers  le  sommet  1.023,  suivant  ensuite  la  ligne  de  partage 
des  eaux  entre  les  villages  Ivankovtzi  et  Loghintzi,  par  Vetersko 
et  Sopot  sur  le  Vardar.  Traversant  le  Vardar,  elle  suit  les 
cretes  vers  le  sommet  2.550  et  jusqu'a  la  montagne  Petropole, 
par  la  ligne  de  partage  des  eaux  de  cette  montagne  entre  les 
villages  de  Krapa  et  Barbaras  jusqu'au  sommet  1.200,  entre  les 
villages  de  Yakryenovo  et  Drenovo,  jusqu'au  mont  Tchesma 
(1.254),  par  la  ligne  de  partage  des  eaux  des  montagnes  Baba- 
Planina  et  Krouchka-Tepessi,  entre  les  villages  de  Salp  et 
Tzerske,  jusqu'au  sommet  de  la  Protoyska-Planina,  a  Test  du 
village  de  Belitza,  par  Brejani,  jusqu'au  sommet  1.200  (Ilinska- 
Planina).  par  la  ligne  de  partage  des  eaux  passant  par  le  som- 
met 1.330  jusqu'au  sommet  1.217  et  entre  les  villages  de  Livoichta 


APPENDIX  299 

et  Gorentzi  jusqu'au  lac  d'Ochrida  pres  du  monastere  de 
Gabovtzi. 

La  Bulgarie  s'engage  a  accepter  cette  frontiere  si  S.  M.  l'em- 
pereur  de  Russie,  qui  sera  sollicite  d'etre  l'arbitre  supreme  en 
cette  question,  se  prononce  en  faveur  de  cette  ligne. 

II  va  de  soi  que  les  deux  parties  contractantes  s'engagent  a 
accepter  co-mme  frontiere  definitive  la  ligne  que  S.  M.  l'em- 
pereur  de  Russie,  dans  les  limites  susindiquees,  aurait  trouvee 
correspondre  le  plus  aux  droits  et  aux  interets  des  deux  parties. 

Art.  3 
Copie  du  traite  et  de  la  presente  annexe  secrete  sera  commu- 
nique conjointement  au  gouvernement  imperial  de  Russie,  qui 
sera  prie  en  meme  temps  d'en  prendre  acte,  de  faire  preuve 
de  bienveillance  a  l'egard  des  buts  qu'ils  poursuivent,  et  de  prier 
S.  M.  l'empereur  de  Russie  de  daigner  accepter  et  approuver 
les  attributions  designees  pour  sa  personne  et  son  gouvernement, 
par  les  clauses  de  ces  deux  actes. 

Art.  4 

Tout  differend  qui  surgirait  touchant  Interpretation  et  l'exe- 
cution  d'une  quelconque  des  clauses  du  traite,  de  la  presente 
annexe  secrete  et  de  la  convention  militaire  sera  soumis  a  la 
decision  definitive  de  la  Russie,  des  lors  que  l'une  des  deux 
parties  aura  declare  qu'elle  estime  impossible  une  entente  par 
des  pourparlers  directs. 

Art.  5 

Aucune  des  dispositions  de  la  presente  annexe  secrete  ne 
pourra  etre  publiee  ou  communiquee  a  un  autre  Etat  sans  une 
entente  prealable  des  deux  parties  et  l'assentiment  de  la  Russie. 

Fait  a  Sofia,  le  29  fevrier  1912 


Convention  Militaire 

Entre  le  Royaume  de  Bulgarie 

et  le  Royaume  de  Serbie 

Conformement  a  l'esprit  et  sur  la  base  de  l'article  3  du  traite 

d'amitie  et  d'alliance  entre  le  royaume  de  Bulgarie  et  le  royaume 

de  Serbie  et  afin  de  mieux  assurer  la  conduite  de  la  guerre  avec 

succes    et   la    realisation   plus    complete    des   buts    que    l'alliance 

a  en  vue,  les  deux  parties  contractantes  conviennent  des  stipula- 


3oo  APPENDIX 

tions  ci-dessous,  qui  auront  en  tout  meme  force  et  valeur  que 
les  dispositions  du  traite  lui-meme. 

Article  premier 

Le  royaume  de  Bulgarie  et  le  royaume  de  Serbie  s'engagent, 
dans  les  cas  prevus  par  les  articles  i  et  2  du  traite  d'alliance 
et  par  l'article  1  de  l'annexe  secrete  a  ce  traite,  a  se  porter 
mutuellement  secours,  la  Bulgarie  avec  une  force  armee  qui  ne 
devra  pas  etre  inferieure  a  deux  cent  mille  combattants  et  la 
Serbie  avec  une  force  d'au  moins  cent  cinquante  mille  com- 
battants, en  mesure  aussi  bien  de  combattre  a  la  frontiere  que 
de  prendre  part  a  des  operations  militaires  hors  du  territoire 
national. 

Dans  ce  nombre  ne  sauraient  etre  compris  ni  les  combattants 
de  formations  surnumeraires,  ni  ceux  du  troisieme  ban  serbe, 
ni  les  troupes  territoriales  bulgares. 

Ce  contingent  de  combattants  devra  etre  rendu  a  la  frontiere 
ou  au  dela  des  frontieres  de  son  territoire  national — dans  la 
direction  ou  il  devra  etre  dirige  suivant  les  causes  et  le  but  de  la 
guerre,  et  d'apres  le  developpement  des  operations  militaires — 
au  plus  tard  le  2ie  jour  apres  la  declaration  de  la  guerre  ou 
la  communication  de  l'Etat  allie  que  la  casus  foederis  s'est  pro- 
duit.  Toutefois,  meme  avant  l'expiration  de  ce  delai,  les  deux 
parties  considereront  comme  leur  devoir  d'alliee — et  si  cela  est 
conforme  a  la  nature  des  operations  militaires  et  peut  contribuer 
a  Tissue  favorable  de  la  guerre — d'envoyer,  meme  partiellement 
et  dans  les  limites  de  la  mobilisation  et  de  la  concentration, 
leurs  troupes  sur  le  champ  de  bataille  des  le  septieme  jour  a 
partir  de  la  declaration  de  la  guerre  ou  de  la  survenance  du 
casus  foederis. 

Art.  2 

Si  la  Roumanie  attaque  la  Bulgarie,  la  Serbie  est  tenue  de 
lui  declarer  immediatement  la  guerre  et  de  diriger  contre  elle 
ses  forces,  d'au  moins  cent  mille  combattants,  soit  sur  le  moyen 
Danube,  soit  sur  le  theatre  d'operations  de  la  Dobroudja. 

Au  cas  ou  la  Turquie  attaquerait  la  Bulgarie,  la  Serbie  s'engage 
a  penetrer  en  Turquie  et  a  distraire  de  ses  troupes  mobilisees, 
cent  mille  combattants  au  moins  pour  les  diriger  sur  le  theatre 
d'operations  du  Vardar. 

Si  la  Serbie  se  trouve  etre  a  ce  moment  seule  ou  conjointe- 
ment  avec  la   Bulgarie,  deja  en  guerre  avec  un  tiers  Etat,  elle 


APPENDIX  301 

engagera  contre  la   Roumanie  ou  la  Turquie  toutes  les  troupes 
dont   elle  conservera   la  libre  disposition. 

Art.  3 

Si  l'Autriche-Hongrie  attaque  la  Serbie,  la  Bulgarie  est  tenue 
de  declarer  immediatement  la  guerre  a  l'Autriche-Hongrie  et 
de  diriger  ses  troupes,  d'au  moins  deux  cent  mille  combattants, 
en  Serbie,  de  telle  sorte  que,  unies  a  l'armee  serbe,  elles  operent 
soit  offensivement,  soit  defensivement,  contre  TAutriche-Hongrie. 

La  meme  obligation  incombera  a  la  Bulgarie  vis-a-vis  de  la 
Serbie  au  cas  ou  l'Autriche-Hongrie,  sous  quelque  pretexte  que 
ce  soit,  d'accord  ou  sans  le  consentement  de  la  Turquie,  fait 
penetrer  ses  troupes  dans  le  sandjak  de  Novi-Bazar  et  que  par 
suite  la  Serbie  lui  declare  la  guerre  ou,  pour  la  defense  de 
ses  interets,  dirige  ses  troupes  dans  le  sandjak  et  par  la  provo- 
que  un  conflit  arme  entre  elle  et  l'Autriche-Hongrie. 

Au  cas  ou  la  Turquie  attaquerait  la  Serbie,  la  Bulgarie 
s'engage  a  franchir  immediatement  la  frontiere  turque  et  a 
prelever  sur  ses  troupes,  mobilisees  conformement  a  l'article 
premier  de  la  presente  convention,  une  armee  forte  d'au  moins 
cent  mille  combattants,  qui  sera  dirigee  sur  le  theatre  d'opera- 
tions  du  Vardar. 

Si  la  Roumanie  attaque  la  Serbie,  la  Bulgarie  est  tenue  d'atta- 
quer  les  troupes  roumaines  des  qu'elles  auront  penetre,  en 
traversant  le  Danube,  sur  le  territoire  serbe. 

Si  la  Bulgarie,  dans  l'un  quelconque  des  cas  envisages  par 
le  present  article,  se  trouve  deja,  seule  ou  conjointement  avec 
la  Serbie,  en  guerre  avec  un  tiers  Etat,  elle  est  tenue  de  porter 
au  secours  de  la  Serbie  toutes  les  troupes  dont  elle  conserverait 
la  libre  disposition. 

Art.  4 

Si  la  Bulgarie  et  la  Serbie,  suivant  une  entente  prealable, 
declarent  la  guerre  a  la  Turquie,  l'une  et  l'autre  seront  tenues, 
s'il  n'en  est  dispose  autrement  par  un  arrangement  special,  de 
prelever  sur  leurs  troupes,  mobilisees  conformement  a  l'article 
premier  de  la  presente  convention,  et  de  diriger  sur  le  theatre 
d'operations  du  Vardar  une  armee  d'au  moins  cent  mille  com- 
battants. 

Art.  5 

Au  cas  ou  l'une  des  parties  contractantes  declarerait  la  guerre 
a  un  tiers  Etat  sans  entente  prealable  et  sans  le  consentement  de 


3o2  APPENDIX 

1'autre  partic  contractante,  cettc  derniere  sera  deliee  des  obliga- 
tions prevues  a  Particle  premier  do  la  presente  convention,  mais 
sera  tenue  d'observer,  pendant  la  duree  de  la  guerre  une  neu- 
trality amicale  vis-a-vis  de  son  alliec,  ainsi  que  de  mobiliser 
sans  retard  une  force  d'au  moins  cinquante  mille  combattants 
qui  sera  conccntree  de  maniere  a  assurer  au  mieux  la  liberte 
des  mouvements,  de  son  alliee. 

Art.  6 

En  cas  de  guerre  conjointe,  aucune  des  parties  contractantcs 
ne  pourra  conclure  avec  l'ennemi  d'armistice  plus  long  que  24 
heures,  sans  une  entente  prealable  et  sans  le  conscntement  de 
1'autre   partic. 

Une  entente  prealable  et  par  ecrit  sera  de  meme  necessaire 
pour  que  des  pourparlers  de  paix  puissent  etre  engages  et  un 
traite  de  paix  signe. 

Art.  7 

Pendant  la  duree  de  la  guerre,  les  troupes  de  chacune  des 
parties  contractantcs  seronl  commandees  et  toutes  leurs  opera- 
tions seront  dirigees  par  leurs  propres  commandements. 

Lorsque  des  corps  de  troupes  appartenant  aux  armees  des 
deux  Etats  opereront  contre  un  meme  objectif,  le  commandement 
commun  sera  pris,  pour  des  unites  de  meme  importance,  par 
le  chef  le  plus  ancien  en  grade,  et  pour  des  unites  d'importance 
differente  par  le  chef  le  plus  ancien  au  point  de  vue  du  com- 
mandement exerce. 

Lorsqu'une  ou  plusieurs  armees  distinctes  appartenant  a  une 
des  parties  contractantes  seront  mises  a  la  disposition  de  1'autre 
partie,  elles  se  trouveront  sous  les  ordres  de  leurs  propres 
commandants  qui,  pour  la  conduite  strategique  des  operations, 
seront  soumis  au  commandant  en  chef  de  l'armee  a  la  disposi- 
tion   de  laquelle  elles  sont  mises. 

En  cas  de  guerre  conjointe  contre  la  Turquic,  le  commande- 
ment en  chef  sur  le  theatre  d'operations  du  Vardar  appartiendra 
a  la  Serbie  si  l'armee  principale  serbe  opere  sur  ce  theatre  et 
si  elle  est  numeriquement  plus  forte  que  les  troupes  bulgares 
sur  ce  theatre  conformement  a  l'article  4  de  la  presente  conven- 
tion. Toutefois  si  l'armee  principale  serbe  n'opere  pas  sur  ce 
theatre  et  lorsqu'elle  y  sera  numeriquement  plus  faiblc  que  les 
troupes  bulgares,  le  commandement  en  chef  sur  ce  theatre 
appartiendra  a  la  Bulgai  ie. 


APPENDIX  303 

Art.  8 

Au  cas  011  les  troupes  des  deux  parties  contractantes  se 
trouveraient  placees  sous  les  ordres  d'un  meme  commandant, 
tous  les  ordres  et.toutes  les  prescriptions  se  rapportant  a  la 
conduite  strategique  des  operations  tactiques  communes  seront 
redigees  dans  les  deux  langues — en  bulgare  et  en  serbe. 

Art.  9 

En  ce  qui  concerne  le  ravitaillement  et  les  subsistances  en 
general,  le  logement,  le  service  medical,  le  transport  des  blesses 
et  malades  ou  l'inhumation  des  morts,  le  transport  du  materiel 
de  guerre  et  autres  objets  similaires,  l'armee  de  chacune  des 
parties  contractantes  jouira  des  memes  droits  et  facilites  sur 
le  territoire  de  l'autre  partie  et  par  les  memes  procedes  que 
les  troupes  de  cette  derniere  partie,  conformement  aux  lois  et 
regies  locales.  Toutes  les  autorites  locales  doivent,  dans  le 
meme  but,  preter  leur  appui  aux  troupes  alliees. 

Le  payement  de  toutes  les  subsistances  sera  regie  par  chaque 
partie  pour  son  compte  aux  prix  locaux,  de  preference  en 
especes  et  dans  des  cas  exceptionnels  contre  bons  delivres 
specialement. 

Le  transport  des  troupes  et  de  tout  le  materiel  de  guerre, 
subsistances  et  autres  objets  en  chemin  de  fer  et  les  frais  y 
relatifs  seront  a  la  charge  de  la  partie  sur  le  territoire  de 
laquelle  ce  transport  a  lieu. 

Art.  10 

Les  trophees  appartiennent  a  l'armee  qui  les  aura  pris. 

Dans  le  cas  ou  la  prise  a  lieu  par  l'efret  d'un  combat  en  com- 
mun  sur  le  meme  terrain,  les  deux  armees  partageront  les  tro- 
phees proportionnellement  aux  forces  des  combattants  qui  y 
auront  directement  participe. 

Art.  11 

Durant  la  guerre,  chaque  partie  contractante  aura  un  delegue 
dans  l'etat-major  du  commandement  en  chef  ou  dans  les  cora- 
mandements  des  armees,  lesquels  delegues  entretiendront  les 
liens  entre  les  deux  armees  sous  tous  les  rapports. 


3o4  APPENDIX 

Art.  12 
Les  operations  strategiques  et  les  cas  qui  ne  sont  pas  prevus, 
ainsi   que   les   contestations  qui   pourraient    surgir   seront    regies 
d'un  commun  accord  par  les  deux  commandements  en  chef. 

Art.   13 

Les  chefs  des  etats-majors  des  armees  alliees  s'cntendront. 
immediatement  apres  la  conclusion  de  la  presente  convention, 
sur  la  distribution  des  troupes  mobilisees  d'apres  l'article 
premier  de  cette  convention  et  leur  groupement  dans  la  zone 
de  concentration  dans  les  cas  exposes  ci-dessus,  sur  les  routes 
qui  devront  etre  reparees  ou  construites  de  nouveau  en  vuc  de 
la  concentration  rapide  sur  la  frontiere  et  les  operations 
ulterieures. 

Art.  14 

La  presente  convention  sera  en  vigueur  a  partir  du  jour  de 
sa  signature  et  durera  tant  qu'aura  force  le  traite  d'amitie  et 
d'alliance  auquel  elle  est  annexee  a  titre  de  partie  integrante. 


Arrangement  entre  les  etats-majors  de  Bulgarie  et  de  Scrbie 

Conformement  a  l'article  13  de  la  convention  militaire  exist- 
ant  entre  le  royaume  de  Bulgarie  et  le  royaume  de  Serbie,  les 
delegues  designes  par  les  deux  parties  ont,  sur  la  base  des 
plans  d'operations  respectifs,  convenu  de  ce  qui   suit : 

Au  cas  d'une  guerre  entre  la  Bulgarie  et  la  Serbie  d'unc  part 
et  la  Turquie  de  I'autre: 

Dans  l'hypothese  ou  la  principale  armee  turque  serait  con- 
centree  dans  la  region  d'Uskub,  Koumanovo,  Kratovo,  Kotcliani, 
Veles,  les  troupes  alliees  destinees  a  agir  sur  le  theatre  d'opera- 
tions du  Vardar  seront  reparties  comme  suit : 

i°  Une  armee  serbe  de  deux  divisions  marchera,  par  le  Kara- 
Dagh,  sur  Uskub.  Cette  armee  formera  l'aile  droite  des  troupes 
alliees ; 

2°  Unc  armee  serbe  de  cinq  divisions  d'infanterie  et  une 
division  de  cavalerie  avancera,  par  la  vallee  de  la  Moravitza 
et  de  la  Ptchinia,  sur  le  front  Koumanovo-Kratovo.  Cette  armee 
constitucra  le  centre  des  troupes  alliees  avec  la  mission  d'operer 
de  front  contrc  I'ennemi; 


APPENDIX  305 

3°  Une  armee  bulgare  de  trois  divisions  formera  l'aile  gauche 
des  troupes  alliees,  avec  la  mission  d'operer  contre  l'aile  droite 
et  sur  les  derrieres  de  l'ennemi,  dans  les  directions  de  Kustendil- 
Egri-Palanka-Uskub  et  Kustendil-Tzarevo-Selo-Kotchani. 

4°  Les  deux  chefs  d'etat-major  general  reconnaitront  ensemble 
la  region  entre  Kustendil  et  Vrania,  et  si  cette  reconnaissance 
demontre  le  possibility  d'employer  de  grandes  masses  dans  la 
direction  Kustendil-Egri-Palanka-Uskub,  les  deux  divisions 
serbes  destinees  a  operer,  par  le  Kara-Dagh,  contre  Uskub, 
seront,  si  la  situation  generale  le  permet,  employees  a  renforcer 
l'aile  gauche  des  troupes  alliees  et  seront  concentrees  a  cet  effet 
pres  de  Kustendil. 

5°  Pour  couvrir  le  flanc  droit  des  troupes  alliees,  le  chef 
d'etat-major  de  l'armee  serbe  disposera  a  sa  convenance  des 
trois  divisions  restantes  du  deuxieme  ban. 

6°  Le  chef  d'etat-major  de  l'armee  bulgare  s'engage  a  agir 
pour  la  prompte  mise  en  etat  de  la  route  de  Bossilegrad  a  Vlas- 
sina. 

7°  Si  la  situation  exige  le  renforcement  des  troupes  bulgares 
sur  le  theatre  d'operations  de  la  Maritza  et  si,  pour  le  theatre 
d'operations  du  Vardar,  toutes  les  troupes  ci-dessus  enumerees 
ne  sont  point  indispensables,  les  unites  necessaires  seront  trans- 
porters de  ce  dernier  theatre  d'operations  sur  celui  de  la 
Maritza.  A  l'inverse,  si  la  situation  exige  le  renforcement  des 
troupes  alliees  sur  le  theatre  d'operations  du  Vardar  et  si  le 
maintien  de  toutes  les  troupes  designees  pour  les  operations 
sur  le  theatre  de  la  Maritza  n'est  pas  indispensable,  les  unites 
necessaires  seront  transporters  de  ce  theatre  sur  celui  du  Vardar. 

Annexe 
Les  deux  etats-majors  generaux  s'engagent: 

a)  A  echanger  tous  leurs  renseignements  sur  les  armees  des 
pays  limitrophes; 

b)  A  se  procurer  mutuellement  le  nombre  voulu  d'exemplaires 
de  tous  les  reglements,  instructions,  cartes,  etc.,  tant  officiels 
que  secrets ; 

c)  A  envoyer  chacun  dans  l'armee  alliee  un  certain  nombre 
d'officiers  charges  de  se  familiariser  avec  son  organisation  et 
d'en  etudier  la  langue,  conformement  a  l'art.  II  de  la  convention 
militaire. 

d)  Les    chefs    d'etat-major   des   armees    serbe   et    bulgare    se 


3o6  APPENDIX 

rencontreront  chaque  automne  pour  se  mettre  au  courant  de  la 
situation    generale    et    pour    introduire    dans    les    arrangements 
conclus    les    modifications    rendues    necessaires    par    les    change- 
ments  de  la  situation. 
Varna,  19  juin  19 12 

General    R.    Poutnik, 
General   Fitchf.ff. 


Traite  d' Alliance  Defensive 
Entrc  la  Bulgaric  et  la  Grecc 

Considerant  que  les  deux  royaumes  desirent  fermement  la 
conservation  de  la  paix  dans  la  peninsule  balkanique  et  peuvent, 
par  une  alliance  defensive  solide,  mieux  repondre  a  ce  besoin: 

Considerant,  dans  ce  meme  ordre  d'idees,  que  la  coexistence 
pacifique  des  differentes  nationalites  en  Turquie,  sur  la  base 
d'une  egalite  politique  reelle  et  veritable  et  le  respect  des  droits 
decoulant  des  traites  ou  autrement  concedes  aux  nationalites 
chretiennes  de  l'empire,  constituent  des  conditions  necessaires 
pour  la  consolidation  de  l'etat  de  choses  en  Orient; 

Considerant  enfin  qu'une  cooperation  des  deux  royaumes,  dans 
le  sens  indique,  est  de  nature,  dans  l'interet  meme  de  leurs 
bons  rapports  avec  l'empire  ottoman,  a  faciliter  et  a  corroborer 
l'entente  des  elements  grec  et  bulgare  en  Turquie; 

Le  gouvernement  de  Sa  Majeste  le  roi  des  Bulgares  et  le 
gouvernement  de  Sa  Majeste  le  roi  des  Hellenes,  se  promettant 
de  ne  pas  donner  une  tendance  agressive  quelconque  a  leur 
accord  purement  defensif  et  ayant  resolu  de  conclure  une  alli- 
ance de  paix  et  de  protection  reciproque  dans  les  termes  ci-des- 
sous  indiques,  ont  nomme  pour  leus  plenipotentiaires.  .  . 

Lesquels,  apres  avoir  echange  leurs  pleins  pouvoirs,  ont  arrete 
ce  qui   suit : 

Article  premier 

Si,  contrairement  au  sincere  desir  des  deux  hautes  parties 
contractantes,  et  en  depit  d'une  attitude  de  leur  gouvernement 
evitant  tout  acte  degression  et  toute  provocation  vis-a-vis  de 
l'empire  ottoman,  l'un  des  deux  Etats  venait  a  etre  attaque  par 
la  Turquie,  soit  dans  son  territoire,  soit  par  une  atteinte  sys- 
tematique  aux  droits  decoulant  des  traites  ou  des  principes 
fondamentaux  du   droit   des  gens,  les  deux  hautes  parties  con- 


APPENDIX  307 

tractantes  sont  tenues  a  se  preter  reciproquement  secours  avec 
la  totalite  de  leurs  forces  armees  et  par  suite  a  ne  conclure  la 
paix  que  conjointement  et  d'accord. 

Art.  2 

Les  deux  hautes  parties  contractantes  se  promettent  mutuelle- 
ment,  d'un  cote  d'user  de  leur  influence  morale  aupres  de  leurs 
congeneres  en  Turquie  afin  qu'ils  contribuent  sincerement  a  la 
coexistence  pacifique  des  elements  constituant  la  population  de 
l'empire,  et  de  l'autre  cote  de  se  preter  une  assistance  reciproque 
et  de  marcher  d'accord,  dans  toute  action,  aupres  du  gouver- 
nement  ottoman  ou  aupres  des  grandes  puissances,  qui  aurait 
pour  but  d'obtenir  ou  d'assurer  la  realisation  des  droits  decoulant 
des  traites  ou  autrement  concedes  aux  nationalites  grecque  et 
bulgare,  l'application  de  l'egalite  politique  et  des  garanties  con- 
stitutionnelles. 

Art.  3 

Le  present  traite  aura  une  duree  de  trois  ans  a  partir  du  jour  de 
sa  signature  et  sera  renouvele  tacitement  pour  une  annee  sauf 
denonciation.  Sa  denonciation  doit  etre  notifiee  au  moins  six 
mois  avant  l'expiration  de  la  troisieme  annee  a  partir  de  la  si- 
gnature du  traite. 

Art.  4 

Le  present  traite  sera  garde  secret.  U  ne  pourra  etre  commu- 
nique a  une  tierce  puissance  soit  integralement,  soit  en  partie,  ni 
divulgue  en  partie  ou  en  tout  qu'avec  le  consentement  des  deux 
hautes  parties  contractantes. 

Le  present  traite  sera  ratine  le  plus  tot  que  faire  se  pourra. 
Les  ratifications  seront  echangees  a  Sofia  (ou  a  Athenes). 

En  foi  de  quoi,  les  plenipotentiaires  respectifs  ont  signe  le 
present  traite  et  y  ont  appose  leurs  cachets. 

Fait  a  Sofia,  en  double  expedition,  le  16  mai  1912 

I.  E.  Guechoff,  D.  Panas. 

Declaration 

L'article  1 er  ne  se  rapporte  notamment  pas  au  cas  ou  une 
guerre  viendrait  a  eclater  entre  la  Grece  et  la  Turquie  par  suite 
de  l'admission  dans  le  Parlement  grec  des  deputes  cretois  contre 
la  volonte  du  gouvernement  ottoman ;  dans  ce  cas,  la  Bulgarie 
n'est  tenue  qu'a  garder  vis-a-vis  de  la  Grece  une  neutralite  bien- 


3o8  APPEXDIX 

veillante.  Et  commc  la  liquidation  de  la  crise  des  affaires 
d'Oricnt,  nee  des  evenements  de  1908,  aussi  quant  a  la  question 
cretoise,  correspond  a  l'interet  general,  et  est  meme  de  nature, 
sans  troubler  l'cquilibrc  dans  la  peninsulc  balkanique,  a  y  con- 
solider  dans  l'interet  de  la  paix  la  situation  internationale,  la 
Bulgarie  (independamment  des  engagements  assumes  par  le 
present  traite)  promet  de  ne  gener  d'aucune  faqon  une  action 
eventuelle  de  la  Grece  qui  tendrait  a  la  solution  de  cette  ques- 
tion. I.  E.  Guechoff,  D.  Panas. 


Convention   Militaire 

S.  M.  le  roi  des  Bulgares  et  S.  M.  le  roi  des  Hellenes,  desirant 
completer  par  une  convention  militaire  le  traite  d'alliance  de- 
fensive conclu  a  Sofia  le  16  mai  1912  entre  le  royaume  de  Bul- 
garie et  le  royaume  de  Grece,  ont,  dans  ce  but,  nomme  pour 
leurs  plenipotentiaires : 

Sa  Majeste  le  roi  des  Bulgares: 

Son  Exc.  M.  Iv.  Ev.  Guechoff,  etc.,  etc. 

Sa  Majeste  le  roi  des  Hellenes: 
Son  Exc.  M.  D.  Panas,  etc.,  etc. 

Lesquels  apres  s'etre  communique  leurs  pleins  pouvoirs 
trouves  en  bonne  et  due  forme,  sont  convenus  de  ce  qui  suit: 

Article  premier 

Dans  le  cas  ou,  conformement  aux  obligations  decoulant  du 
traite  d'alliance  defensive  conclu  a  Sofia  le  16  mai  1912  entre 
la  Bulgarie  et  la  Grece,  la  Grece  interviendrait  militairement 
contre  la  Turquie  dans  une  guerre  bulgaro-turque,  ou  bien  la 
Bulgarie  contre  la  Turquie  dans  une  guerre  turco-grecque,  les 
deux  Etats,  bulgare  et  grec,  s'engagent  a  se  preter  mutuellemcnt 
secours,  soit  la  Grece  avec  un  effectif  atteignant  au  minimum 
cent  vingt  mille  homines,  et  la  Bulgarie  avec  un  effectif  d'au 
moins  trois  cent  mille  homines;  ces  forces  devront  etre  aptes 
aussi  bien  a  entrer  en  campagne  sur  la  frontiere  qu'a  prendre 
part  a  des  operations  militaires  en  dehors  des  limites  du  tcrri- 
toire  national. 


APPENDIX  309 

Les  troupes  susindiquees  devront  etre  concentrees  a  la  fron- 
tiere  et  a  merne  de  la  franchir  au  plus  tard  le  vingtieme  jour  qui 
aura  suivi  la  mobilisation  ou  l'avis  donne  par  l'une  des  parties 
contractantes  que  le  casus  foederis  s'est  produit. 

Art.  2 

Au  cas  ou  la  Grece  viendrait  a  etre  attaquee  par  la  Turquie, 
la  Bulgarie  s'engage  a  declarer  la  guerre  a  cette  derniere  puis- 
sance et  a  entrer  en  campagne  contre  elle  avec  l'ensemble  de 
ses  forces,  fixees,  au  terme  de  l'article  premier,  a  un  minimum 
de  trois  cent  mille  hommes,  en  conformant  ses  operations  mili- 
taires  au  plan  elabore  par  l'etat-major  bulgare. 

Au  cas  ou  la  Bulgarie  viendrait  a  etre  attaquee  par  la  Turquie, 
la  Grece  s'engage  a  declarer  la  guerre  a  cette  derniere  puis- 
sance et  a  entrer  en  campagne  contre  elle  avec  l'ensemble  de 
ses  forces,  fixees,  aux  termes  de  l'article  premier,  a  un  minimum 
de  cent  vingt  mille  hommes,  en  conformant  ses  operations  mili- 
taires  au  plan  elabore  par  l'etat-major  grec.  L'objectif  principal 
de  la  flotte  hellenique  devra  toutefois  etre  de  se  rendre  maitresse 
de  la  mer  Egee  et  d'interrompre  les  communications  par  cette 
voie  entre  l'Asie-Mineure  et  la  Turquie  d'Europe. 

Dans  les  cas  prevus  aux  deux  paragraphes  precedents,  la 
Bulgarie  s'engage  a  operer  offensivement  avec  une  partie  im- 
portante  de  son  armee  contre  les  forces  turques  concentrees 
dans  la  region  des  vilayets  de  Kossovo,  Monastir  et  Salonique. 
Si  la  Serbie,  en  vertu  de  ses  accords  avec  la  Bulgarie,  prend 
part  a  la  guerre,  la  Bulgarie  pourra  disposer  de  la  totalite  de 
ses  forces  militaires  en  Thrace,  mais  dans  ce  cas  elle  prend  par 
le  present  acte  l'engagement  envers  la  Grece  que  des  forces  mili- 
taires serbes  d'un  effectif  d'au  moins  cent  vingt  mille  combat- 
tants  opereront  offensivement  contre  les  forces  turques  concen- 
trees dans  la  region  des  trois  vilayets  susmentionnes. 

Art.  3 

Si  la  Bulgarie  et  la  Grece,  aux  termes  d'une  entente  prealable, 
declarent  la  guerre  a  la  Turquie,  elles  sont  l'une  et  l'autre  tenues 
— a  moins  qu'il  n'en  soit  dispose  autrement  par  un  accord  special 
— de  faire  entrer  en  campagne  les  effectifs  prevus  a  l'article 
premier  de  la  presente  convention. 


3io  APPENDIX 

Les  dispositions  de  deux  derniers  paragraphes  de  l'article  2 
sont  dans  ce  cas  aussi  applicables. 

Art.  4 

Au  cas  ou  l'un  des  gouvernements  contractants  declarerait 
la  guerre  a  un  Etat  autre  que  la  Turquie,  sans  une  entente 
prealable  et  sans  le  consentement  de  l'autre  gouvernement,  ce 
dernier  est  delie  des  obligations  exposees  a  l'article  premier, 
mais  reste  neanmoins  tenu  d'observer,  pendant  toute  la  duree 
de  la  guerre,  une  neutralite  amicale  a  l'egard  de  son  allie. 

Art.  5 

En  cas  de  guerre  conjointe,  aucun  des  Etats  allies  ne  pourra 
conclure  d'armistice  d'une  duree  superieure  a  vingt-quatre  heu- 
res,  sans  une  entente  prealable  et  sans  le  consentement  de  l'autre 
Etat  allie. 

L'entente  des  deux  parties  contractantes,  contenu  dans  un 
accord  ecrit,  sera  de  meme  necessaire  pour  que  l'une  d'elles 
puisse  engager  des  negociations  en  vue  de  la  paix  ou  conclure 
un  traite  de  paix. 

Art.  6 

Dans  le  cas  ou  la  Bulgarie  et  la  Grece  ayant  mobilise  leurs 
forces  armees  ou  etant  entrees  en  campagne,  la  Grece  se  verrait 
obligee  de  regler  la  question  cretoise  suivant  les  vceux  des  popu- 
lations de  l'ile  et  serait  pour  cela  attaquee  par  la  Turquie,  la 
Bulgarie  s'engage  a  se  porter  a  son  secours,  conformement  a 
l'article  premier  de  la  presente  convention. 

Art.  7 

Les  chefs  d'etat-major  general  des  armees  bulgare  et  grecque 
devront  se  renseigner  mutuellement  et  en  temps  opportun  sur 
leurs  plans  d'operations  en  cas  d'une  guerre.  lis  devront  en 
outre  faire  connaitre  tous  les  ans  les  modifications  apportees  a 
ces  plans  du  fait  de  circonstances  nouvelles. 

Art.  8 

La  presente  convention  deviendra  obligatoire  pour  les  deux 
parties  contractantes  sitot  apres  avoir  etc  sign£e;  elle  demeurera 
en  vigucur  pendant  toute  la  duree  du  traite  d'alliance  defensive 


APPENDIX  311 

du    16   mai    1912,    auquel    die   est    incorporee   a   titre    de    partie 
integrante. 
Fait  a  Sofia,  en  double  exemplaire,  le  22  septembre  1912 
I.  E.  Guechoff, 
General  Fitcheff. 

D.  Panas, 

J.   P.  Metaxes,  capitaine. 


INDEX 


313 


INDEX 


Abdul  Hamid,  secluded  life  of, 
29;  refused  recognition  by 
millions,  29;  cited,  43;  an 
accomplished  opportunist  in 
politics,  43;  cares  of,  45; 
bitterness  of  toward  Great 
Britain,  46;  unseated  and 
sent  a  prisoner  to  Salonica, 
85;  Oriental  despotism 
practiced  by,  147 

Abdul  Medjid,  cited,  120 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  quoted, 
241 

Adrianople,  invested  by  Bul- 
garians, 166;  keeping  of  un- 
der  Turkish   rule,    179,   247 

7Egean  Isles,  different  peoples 
occupying  the,  100;  impor- 
tance of  Greek  inhabitants 
in,  101 ;  perplexing  situation 
relative  to,  245;  held  by 
Italy,  282 

Albanians,  no  question  as  to 
their  essential  unity,  42;  a 
riddle,  75;  generally  ac- 
cepted hypothesis  of  origin 
of,  77;  independent  of  reli- 
gion in  personal  conduct, 
78;  physical  and  mental 
characteristics  of,  78;  lan- 
guage and  original  charac- 
ter retained  by,  101 ;  nation- 
ality asserted  by,  190 

Alexander  I  of  Servia,  consort 
chosen  by,  141 ;  assassinated, 
141 ;  penalties  paid  by  mur- 
derers of,  143 

Alexander  I  of  Russia,  en- 
thronement of,  10;  death  of, 
106 

Alexander  the  Great,  effect  of 
his  triumphs  on  the  con- 
quered, 58 

Alexander  Ypsilanti,  procla- 
mation issued  by,   105 


Alfred,  Prince,  chosen  to  suc- 
ceed King  Otto  of  Greece, 
109 

Algeciras  Conference,  cited,  85 

Ali,  just  succession  of  pre- 
vented, 46 

Ali  Saib,  celebrated  Turkish 
general,   defeated,  95 

Allies,  success  of,  165 ;  war  cry 
of,  169;  all  Turkey  in  Eu- 
rope in  possession  of,  172; 
discord  among  the,  173 

America,  being  made  unilin- 
gual  and  homogeneous,  35 

Anastasius,  defeated  by  the 
Slavs,  65 

Armament,  some  figures  rela- 
tive to,   176 

Armistice  of  Bulair,  signing 
of,  174 

Aryans,  cited,  34;  theoretical 
reconstruction  of,  36;  term 
defined,  40 

Ashkenazi  Jew,  the,  cruelties 
inflicted  upon,  33 

Asia  Minor,  ethnic  stocks  of, 
3;  massacre  of  Christians  in, 
157;  railway  lines  in,  267 

Athens,  two  views  of,  112 

Austria-Hungary,  annexation 
of  Bosnia  and  the  Herze- 
govina by,  189;  discussed, 
254 

Bajazet  I,  defeat  and  exile  of, 

9 

Bajazet  II,  reign  of  described, 
10 

Balkan  Alliance,  formation  of, 
183 ;  believed  once  to  be  im- 
possible, 186;  military  ar- 
rangements of,  202 

Balkan  peninsula,  composition 
of,  3;  prehistoric  man  in  the, 
55 ;   earliest   traceable   immi- 


315 


316 


INDEX 


gration  of  settlers  into,  57; 
an  important  migration  into, 
64;  invasion  of  the  by 
Avars,  65;  principle  of  na- 
tionality in,  183 

Balkan  peoples,  stage  of  de- 
velopment reached  by,  III; 
twenty  years  of  diplomacy 
among,  186;  united  by  com- 
mon  suffering,   192 

Balkan  States,  by  whom  in- 
habited, 4;  of  to-day,  story 
of,  14;  revival  of  trade  in, 
88;  populations  of,  151;  ap- 
portionment of  surrendered 
territories  an  acute  question 
in,  175;  the  term  "nation- 
ality" in,  249;  Islam  in  the, 
264;  nationality  of  uncer- 
tain, 274;  elements  of  dis- 
union in,  275;  possible  ad- 
vance of  in  nationality,  277; 
armed  peace  in,  278 

Bartlett,  Ashmead,  quoted,  226 

Belgrade,  palace  scandals  of, 
142 

Berlin  Exchange,  panic  on,  177 

Bouchier,  quoted,  203;  cited, 
209,  219 

Bryce,    James,    suggestion    of, 

183      , 
"Bulgar,        synonymous      with 

"vulgar,"  103 

Bulgaria,  only  permitted  lan- 
guage in  church  and  school 
in,  102;  literary  remains  of 
burned,  103;  Prince  Ferdi- 
nand made  ruler  of,  130; 
court  and  people  discussed, 
131,  132;  advantage  pos- 
sessed by,  150;  independence 
declared  by,  155;  task  faced 
by,  288;  final  abdication  of 
Alexander  as  ruler  of,  130; 
rulership  of  offered  to  and 
declined  by  Prince  Waldemar 
of  Denmark,  130 

Bulgarian  Church,  secession  of 
from  control  of  Greek  pa- 
triarchate in  Constantinople, 
127 


Bulgars,  Asiatic  race  called 
the,  40;  nearest  kin  to  the 
Turks,  66;  founders  of  a 
mighty  empire,  67;  attached 
to  Greek  Catholic  Church, 
71 ;  ambitions  to  control  the 
Balkan  peninsula,  71 ;  orig- 
inally an  Altaic  horde,  72; 
physique  described.  72;  re- 
garded as  a  dangerous  ele- 
ment in  Macedonia,  200 

Byron,  Lord,  amazing  verse 
of,  106;  death  of,  106 

Canning,  decisive  step  taken 
by,   106;  death  of,  107 

Capitulations,  cited,    17 

Carnegie  Peace  Foundation, 
cited,  225 

Carol,  King,  cited,  281 

Cavour,  cited,  84 

Cettigne,  capital  of  Montene- 
gro, described,  95;  language 
spoken  in,  96 

Charles  of  Hohenzollern-Sig- 
maringen,  Prince,  chosen 
king  of  Rumania,  121 

Chieftains,  government  estab- 
lished and  maintained  by, 
57;  overthrown,  58 

Christians,   Byzantine    type  of, 

37 

Committee  of  Union  and 
Progress,  accomplishments 
of,  153;  attempt  to  destroy 
power  of,  157;  composition 
of,  161 

Conflagration,  European,  dan- 
ger of.  163 

Congress  of  Vienna,  cited,  104 

Constantine  of  Greece,  King, 
cited,  281 

Constantine   the    Great,    cited, 

4 

Constantinople,  under  Otto- 
man rule,  3;  nationalities  in, 
4;  fall  of,  15;  class  of  offi- 
cials ruling  at,  and  an  ex- 
ample, 30;  conquerors  of 
never  sure  of  their  position 
in      Christian      world,      102; 


INDEX 


3i7 


Greek  patriarch  at,  102 ;  as- 
cendancy regained  by,  154 

Cousa,  acknowledged  as  Alex- 
ander John  I,  120 

Crete,  rebellion  of,  109;  union 
with  Greece  voted  by,  156 

Crimean  War,  beginning  of, 
119 

Cuba,  cause  of  transforma- 
tions in,  84 

Customs  system  of  Turks, 
analyzed,  28 

Czar  Peter  the  Great,  victori- 
ous alliance  formed  by,  92 

Czar   Simeon,  cited,   14 

Czar  Stephen  Dushan,  cited, 
14;  achievements  and  death 
of,  68;  climax  of  Servian 
strength  reached  under,  135 

Daneff,  prime  minister,  cited, 
230 

Danilo  I  of  Montenegro,  great 
accomplishments  of,  93;  de- 
feat of  Omar  Pasha  by,  94; 
assassinated  by  one  of  his 
own  subjects,  94 

Dardanelles,  closing  of,  161 

David,  last  so-called  "Roman" 
ruler,  cited,  5 

Decibalus,  King,  power  of  an- 
nihilated, 62 

Derwish,  Turkish  general, 
cited,  94 

Diocletian,  cited,  4 

Diplomacy,  European,  awak- 
ened, 49 

Disraeli,  action  of,  19 

Draga,  death  of,  141 

Dual  Monarchy,  domination  of 
in  economic  matters,  149; 
cited,  286 

East  Roman,  or  Byzantine, 
empire,  fall  of,  4;  other 
names  applied  to,  39;  lan- 
guage of,  39 

East  Rumelia,  move  to  incor- 
porate with  Bulgaria,  128; 
Prince  Alexander  appointed 
governor-general  of,  129 


Emperor,  East  Roman,  de- 
scribed, 6;  his  form  of  gov- 
ernment, 7 
Enver  Bey,  action  of,  169 
Europe,  southeastern,  nation- 
alities of,  3 ;  an  ethnologi- 
cal museum,  3 ;  described ; 
83;  Western,  types  strongly 
developed  in,  36 

Feudalism,  a  social  and  eco- 
nomic system,  15 

France,  discussed,  259 

Francis  I,  treaty  concluded  by, 
16 

Francis  Joseph,  cited,  286 

Garibaldi,  cited,  84 

Genthios,  King,  defeated  and 
captured,  59 

George,  late  king  of  the  Hel- 
lenes, discussed,  in 

Germany,  discussed,  258 

Ghegs,  the,  national  heroes 
furnished  by,  77 

Ghika,  reform  efforts  of,  119 

Goths,  settlement  of,  63;  in 
Albanian  Alps,  77 

Grand  Council  of  the  Ottoman 
empire,  summoning  of,   169 

Great  Britain,  profits  pocketed 
by,  212;  discussed,  260 

"Great  Idea,"  defined,  38;  the 
common  tie  of  colonist  Al- 
banians and  native  Greeks, 
101 ;  determinative  role  of  in 
Eastern  Europe,  117;  cited, 
186,  235 

"Great  Servia"  idea,  the,  139 

Greco-Bulgarian  treaty,  state- 
ment of,  197 

Greece,  progress  of,  38;  tacti- 
cal mistakes  made  by,  38; 
modern,  why  called  Slavic, 
40;  varying  elements  of 
population  comprising,  41 ; 
becomes  the  province  of 
Achaia,  60;  the  effect  of 
Roman  influence  on,  61 ; 
Roman  citizenship  conferred 
on    all    freemen,    61 ;    inde- 


3i8 


INDEX 


pendence  of  declared  by 
Powers,  107;  declared  a 
hereditary  monarchy  by 
London  Conference,  108; 
story  of  consolidation  of, 
108;  present  peace  and  good 
order  in,  112;  German  influ- 
ence seen  in,  113;  plight  of 
in    1908,    150 

Greek  Assembly,  the,  first 
meeting  of,  106;  king 
selected  by,  107 

Greek  Church,  the,  ramifica- 
tions of  its  ecclesiastical 
order,  13;  created  by  Greeks, 
101 

Greeks,  modern,  from  whom 
descended,  38;  loss  of  po- 
litical independence  of  the, 
59;  assisted  by  Albania  in 
struggle  for  liberty,  99; 
dress  of,  99;  wholesale  mas- 
sacres of  in  island  of  Chios, 
106;  persecuted  by  Bulgaria, 
188 

Gregory  X,  cited,  16 

Grey,  Sir  Edward,  cited,  174; 
declaration  of,  226 

Gueshoff,  policy  of,  194 

Gypsies,  the,  generally  no- 
madic, 79 

Hapsburgs,  cited,  16 

Hellenes,  a  cherished  idea  of, 
104 

Holy  League,  purpose  of,    16 

Hungarians,  entrance  of  into 
Slavic  territory,  67;  remark- 
able civilization  developed 
by,  67 

Hungary,  emancipated  from 
Turkish  rule,   133 

Hunyadi,  victories  of,  9 

Ignaticff,   campaigns   of,   cited, 

International     Commission     of 

Control,  composition   of,   180 

Invaders,   Turkish,   in   Asia,   5 

Ionian    Isles,   ceded    to   Greece 

by  Great  Britain,  109 


Ionians,  cited,  55 

Italy,    Tripoli,    and    Cyrenaica 

occupied   by,    159;    fears    of, 

160 
Ivan   the  Terrible,  cited,   16 

Janissaries,   described,    12 

Japhetites,  cited,  34 

Javanes,  cited,  34 

Jews,  the,  cited,  13;  those  of 
Ashkenazi  branch  hated  and 
feared,  79;  those  of  Sephar- 
dim  branch  generally  re- 
spected, 80 

Justinian,  extension  of  Ro- 
man power  under,  5;  sys- 
tem of  fortifications  inaugu- 
rated  by,  65 

Kanaris,  victory  of,  106 

Kapo  d'Istrias,  plenipotenti- 
aries won  to  Greek  cause  by, 
104;  belief  concerning,  107; 
assassinated  by  fellow  patri- 
ots, 107 

Karageorge,    assassination    of, 

Karageorgevich,  Alexander, 
chosen  ruler  of  Servia,  138; 
deposed,  139 

Leopold    of   Saxe    Coburg,   se- 
lected as  king  of  Greece  and 
declines,  107 
Levant,  the,  destiny  of,  51 
Lewis  I.  King,  cited,  108 
Littmann,  Professor,  cited,  267 
London   Conference,  action   of 
relative  to  Greece,   108 

Macedonia,  woes  and  sorrows 
and  cruelties  in,  41 ;  hetero- 
geneous population  of,  41  ; 
lines  of  division  in,  43;  atroc- 
ities in  mainly  the  work  of 
Christians,  49;  demands  an 
end  of  rapine  and  murder, 
88;  program  for  regenera- 
tion of,  148;  futile  efforts 
for  reform  in,  188;  harmony 
among    Christian    races    in, 


INDEX 


3i9 


191 ;  murders  of  Christian 
leaders  in,  194;  revolt  of 
Bulgarians  in,  199;  lawless- 
ness in,  214;  description  of 
refugees  from,  215;  auton- 
omy in  opposed  by  Greece, 
231 

Mahomet  II,  East  Roman  em- 
pire crushed  by,  10;  further 
victories  and  death  of,  10 

Marshall  von  Bieberstein, 
British  influence  nullified  by, 

153 

Martel,  Charles,  cited,  15 

Maximilian  I,  plan  of  for  par- 
tition of  Turkey,  16 

Mazzini,  cited,  84 

Mehemet  Ali  of  Egypt,  exist- 
ence of  Turkey  threatened 
by,  18;  help  of  sought  by 
Sultan,    106 

Metternich  system,  Europe 
weary  of,  106 

Mexico,  transformations  in,  84 

Miaulis,  Admiral,  own  fleet 
destroyed  by,   107 

Milan,  king  of  Servia,  war  de- 
clared by,  129 

Milan  IV,  reign  of  140;  abdi- 
cation of,   141 

Milyukoff,  Professor,  cited,  225 

Mohammedanism,  modified  by 
Occidental  influences,  14; 
spirit  of  equality  in,  269 

Montenegrins,  possessed  of 
primitive  virtues,  70 

Montenegro,  physical  features 
of,  89;  aim  and  aspiration 
of,  91 ;  good  will  of  impor- 
tant to  Turkey,  94;  area  and 
population  of,  97;  industries 
in,  97;  army  system  of,  98; 
slight  achievements  of,  234 

Morocco,  cited,  85 

Moslem  law,  protection  from 
injurious    administration    of, 

x7 
Miiller,    William,    influence    of 

in  Germany,  106 

Murad  I,  cited,  9;  death  of,  9 

Murad  II,  victories  of,  9 


Napoleon,  march  of  to  Mos- 
cow, 118 

Napoleon  III,  discernment  of, 
120 

Napoleonic  epoch,  condition  of 
Turkey  during,    118 

Nationality,  Slavic  ideas  of,  50 

Navarino,  battle  of,  107 

New  Byzantium,  restoration 
of  postponed,  41 

Nicholas  of  Montenegro,  reviv- 
ing ambition  of,  89;  task 
faced  by,  94;  peace  acquired 
by,  94 ;  victories  of,  95 

Nicholas  I  of  Russia,  hostile  to 
Austrian  leadership,  106 

Nicholas  Ypsilanti,  army  of 
destroyed,   105 

Obrenovich,  Milosh,  revolt  in- 
augurated by,  137;  abdica- 
tion of,  138;  recalled  to 
throne,    139 

Oghusians,  cited,  8 

Omar,  Turkish  general,  cited, 
94 

Orchan,  cited,  9 

Osman,  Othman,  or  Ottoman, 
founder  of  his  line,  cited,  8 

Otto  of  Bavaria,  crown  of 
Greece  offered  to,  108;  his 
throne  declared  vacant  while 
absent,  109 

Ottoman  empire,  administra- 
tion of  the,  13;  integral  part 
of  European  state  system, 
17;  ignorance  of  conditions 
prevalent  in  twenty  years 
ago,  24 

Pan-Slavism,  folly  of  illus- 
trated, 208 

Parthians,  cited,  56 

Pasha  Kara-Mahmoud,  defeat 
of  by  Peter  I,  92 

Paul,  murder  of  in  Saint 
Petersburg  referred  to,  10 

Peace  movement,  dimensions 
assumed  by,  273 

Peace,  partial  accomplishment 
of,  172 


320 


INDKX 


Pelasgians,  a  fabulous  people, 
cited,  64 

Peoples,  European,  once  sub- 
ject to  Turkey,  34 

Peter  of  Servia,  King,  en- 
thronement of,  142 

Peter  II  of  Montenegro,  an 
amazing  personage,  93 

Phanar,  a  quarter  of  Constan- 
tinople, cited,  37 

Phanariotes,  qualities  of,  37 

Philip  of  Flanders,  throne  of 
Rumania  offered  to  and  de- 
clined by,  121 

Philip  II  of  Macedon,  strong 
will  of,  58 

Pliny,    Slavs  mentioned  by,  66 

"Powers,"  the,  attitude  and 
temper  of,  241 ;  agreements 
of,  242 ;  delicate  relations  of, 
279 

Prenk-Bib-Doda,  cited,  77 

Punic  War,  the  second,  cited, 
59 

Rayahs,  little  interested  in  na- 
tionalities of,  37 

Reformation,  the,  cited,    16 

Ristitch,  Servian  statesman, 
suggestion  of,  184 

Roman  empire,  rise  of  the,  59 

Rumania,  present  kingdom  of, 
41 ;  plan  of  for  aggrandize- 
ment, 88;  provinces  united 
to  form,  103 ;  brilliant  chap- 
ter in  history  of,  123 ;  at 
war,  124;  capital  city  of  de- 
scribed, 125;  social  and  eco- 
nomic questions  solved  by, 
126 

Rumanian,  garb  of,  55;  diver- 
gence of  opinion  as  to  ethnic 
character  of  the,  61  ;  physi- 
cal differences  noted,  62 

Rumelia,  portion  of  Bulgaria 
known  as,  43 

Russia,  aims  of,  17;  wants 
Constantinople,  17;  Napo- 
leon's seizure  of  Egypt  ab- 
horrent to,  18;  forced  to 
support  Turkey,  18;  Czar  of, 


his  assumption  of  protec- 
torate over  Greek  Christians 
in  Palestine,  18;  political  in- 
fluence of  in  the  Balkans, 
19;  the  persistently  embit- 
tered foe  of  Turkey,  105 

San   Stefano,   treaty   of,    cited, 

19 

Savoff,  General,  cited,  164,  230 

Scander  Beg,  cited,  9;  a  na- 
tional hero,  77;  intolerable 
rule  of,  91 

Scipio,  L.  victory  of  over  Dal- 
matians,  59 

Scutari,  entrance  of  by  King 
Nicholas,  171 ;  taken  pos- 
session  by    the   Six    Powers, 

174. 

Scythians,  what  the  word 
designates,  56 

Secret  treaty,  called  a  con- 
spiracy, 224 

Selamlik,  the,  nature  of,  29 

Selim  I,  cited,  10 

Selim  II,  cited,  11 

Seljuke  Turks,  settlement  of 
in  Asia  Minor,  4;  discussed, 
8 

Serbo-Bulgarian  treaty,  pro- 
vision of,  201 

Serbo-Croats,  general  designa- 
tion of  Slavs,  69;  physical 
qualities  noted,  69;  improve- 
ment of  under  Austro-Hun- 
garian  rule,  70;  in  Albanian 
Alps,  77 

Servian  Church,  subordinated 
to  patriarchate  at  Constanti- 
nople, 102;  recognized  as 
independent,  135 

Servia,  rise  of,  133,  134;  fac- 
tional quarrels  in,  136;  de- 
feat of  by  Bulgaria,  140; 
corruption  in  public  life  in, 
142;  statesmen  produced  by, 
184;  principal  industry  of, 
200;  burdens  to  be  borne  by, 
287 

Shiite  Persians,  the,  aversion 
of  to  Sunnite  orthodox,  46 


INDEX 


321 


Sigismund  II,  cited,  16 
Sixtus  V,  cited,  16 
Sobieski,  John,   cited,  5 
Soleiman  II,  military  successes 

of,  11 ;  death  of,  11 
Soleiman  Khan,  cited,  8 
Soleiman,     renowned    Turkish 

general,  repulsed,  95 
Stambuloff,  rise  of,  130;  assas- 
sination of,  130 
Stephanove,  Professor,  quoted, 

224 
Stephen,    guerilla    warfare   of, 

Stone,  Miss,  capture  of,  214 
Stratford    de    Redclyffe,   Lord, 

cited,  46 
Sturdza,   improvements  sought 

by,  119 
Sublime    Porte,    the,    sobriquet 

of,    15 ;    promises    made    by, 

42 
Sultan    Abdul    Aziz,    boundary 

settled  by,  94 
Sultans,     concessions     secured 

from,  17 

Teutons,  the  conquering,  28 
Thracians,  the,  described,  55 
Trajan,  death  of,  cited,  63 
Transylvania,  cited,  286 
Treaties  made  with  the  Porte, 

17 

Treaty  of  Berlin,  made  only 
to  be  violated,  19;  parts  of 
Albania  ceded  by  to  Nicho- 
las, 96;  cited,  147,  148,  155, 
160,  184,  185,  203,  211 

Treaty  of  Bucharest,  terms  of 
settlement  of,  178;  cited, 
247;  criticism  of,  248 

Treaty  of  Constantinople,  line 
established  by,  179 

Treaty  of  Kutschuk-Kainardje, 
what  it  established,   117 

Treaty  of  Lausanne,  signing 
of,  161;  disposition  of  ^gean 
Isles  by,  245;  full  validity 
acquired  by,  283 

Treaty  of  London,  determina- 
tions of,  246;  original  inten- 


tions of  largely  set  aside,  247 

Treaty  of  Paris,  restorations 
of,  119 

Treaty  of  peace,  the,  228 

Tricoupis,  Greek  statesman, 
hope  of,   185 

Triple  Alliance,  cited,  152,  158, 
228,  280,  281 

Triple  Entente,  cited,  158,  228 

Turanians,  cited,  36 

Turkey,  Russia  a  watchful  foe 
of,  17;  released  from  bond- 
age by  Crimean  War,  19; 
in  Europe,  former  boun- 
daries of,  23;  subject  popu- 
lations of,  33 ;  decline  and 
fall  of,  128;  declaration  of 
war  by,  163 

Turkification,  process  of,  159; 
cited,  209;  work  of  begun  in 
Macedonia,  212;  where 
forced  to  desist  from,  213 

Turkish  rule,  survival  of,  32 

Turks,  courageous  explorers 
and  fighters,  7;  supplant  By- 
zantine administrators  in 
Europe,  8;  virtues  retained 
by,  25 ;  fine  qualities  exhib- 
ited by,  26;  characteristics 
of,  26;  women-folk  of,  27; 
divorce  among,  27 ;  treatment 
of  beggars  by,  27;  childish 
behavior  of,  28;  appearance 
of  the  in  Balkan  peninsula, 
68;  racial  qualities  of,  68 

United  States,  process  of  as- 
similating all  types  of  hu- 
manity in,  251 

"United  States  of  Europe,"  a, 
suggested  by  idealists,  284 

University  of  Athens,  bril- 
liancy of  the,  60 

Venezelos,  good  judgment  of, 
193;  proposition  submitted 
by,  195;  efforts  of  for  peace, 
280 
Victoria,  Queen,  cited,  109 
Vlachs,  a  contingent  in  Mace- 
donia, 42;  called  also  Wal- 


322 


INDEX 


lachs  and  Kutzovlachs,  vaga- 
bond tendencies  of,  physical 
characteristics  of,  73;  dis- 
tinctive dress  of,  74 

War,  cause  of  in  the  Balkans, 
35;  second  stage  of,  170;  be- 
tween Italy  and  Turkey,  196; 
latest,  national  characteris- 
tics in,  207;  conditions  be- 
fore the,  209;  atrocities  of, 
217-223 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  agree- 
ment negotiated  by,   106 

Westphalia,  treaty  of,  cited, 
17 

West,  social  order  familiar  to, 
no 

William,  Emperor,  of  Ger- 
many, cited,  113 


William  Frederick  of  Wied, 
Prince,  chosen  ruler  of  au- 
tonomous Albania,  180 

William,  Prince,  of  Denmark, 
chosen  king  of  the  Hellenes, 
109 

World  movement,  what  de- 
pendent upon,   17 

Young  Turks,  hopeless  effort 
of,  78;  mobilization  of 
armies  by,  85 ;  elaborate  plan 
of,  86;  reverses  of,  156;  am- 
nesty granted  by,  159;  revo- 
lution of  based  on  chimera, 
188;  suppression  of  atroci- 
ties perpetrated  by,  209 

Young  Turk  Revolution,  how 
regarded,  155;  no  real  change 
wrought  by,  200 


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